THE SHEEP KILLERS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9578, 26 August 1909, Page 7

THE SHEEP KILLERS.

A kea-hunter, who spends a great deal of his time on sheep atatiuns in the kea country amongst the sheep killers, and who has caught hundreds of them, relates an incident to show that the evil name they have been given is not undeserved, states a Christchurch paper. He states that at 2.30 o'clock in the morning on March 16th 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 W3s turning round and round, evidently in some distress. After a time, it went past him, and he then eaw that there was a kea on its back and another kea following on the wirg, a few yards behind. The bird on the sheep's back had its wings outstretched and fluttering, as if it were balancing itself. There was bright moonlight, and it sewned to the watcher that this bird had its beak ouried 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 on 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 hack 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