THE KEA PEST.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 472, 26 August 1909, Page 4

THE KEA PEST.

A kea-hunter who spends a great deal of his time on sheep stations in the kea country amongst the sheepkillers, and who has caught hundreds of them, relates an incident to show that the evil name they have been given is not undeserved. He states that at 2.30 o’clock in the morning on March 16 last, when he was going over a saddle, he came on to a place where about forty halfbred sheep were camped. He noticed that one of them was turning round and round, evidently in some distress. After a time, it went past him, and he then saw that there was a kea on its back and another kea following on the wing,' a few yards behind. The bird on the sheep’s back bad its wings outstretched and fluttering, as if it was balancing itself. There was bright moonlight, and it seemed to the watcher that this bird had its beak buried in the wool. They went along for ten or twelve, chains, until they reached an old watercourse. The watcher followed them down, and saw the sheep lying on the ground, with the bird on its upper side. He prepared a bait oh the sheep, and presently the kea, which was a male, came up, stepped on to the man's hand, and was captured. There were several cuts on the sheep’s back over the loins, where the, kea had stood, about half an inch long, and of a triangular shape, the wool and skin having been torn off. ,