THE KEA.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19690, 6 August 1929, Page 11

THE KEA.

TO TBS EDITOR OT THE PRESS. Sir, —The re-hearing of the ease against the kea has attracted considerable attention in the South Island since Mr E. E. Muir's article in The Press some months ago. Correspondence and leading articles have given additional opinions, and one evening last week a Springbum resident made a plea on behalf of the kea, the material for which he had gathered during long observation and intimacy. The Mr Nicholson referred to is Mr W. H. Nicholson, secretary of the Canterbury Sheepr owners' Union, who reported against the kea in The Press of July 24th. "I have a bit of a kink for the native birds," said the kea's champion, "and I don't like to see Mr Nicholson and his friends having all their own way. I am no scribe and don't want my name in the paper, but my experience of keas extends to fifty years, against the forty of the friends of Mr Nicholson. 1 should very much like to see the bonus paid on the beaks of keas taken off altogether, for I am satisfied that the kea is not the killer that people would make out. Of course, it is undeniable that he does occasionally kill sheep, though in only small percentages." Keas, it was explained, work at night so are not often seen at their job, but in the moonlight can sometimes be seen on sheeps' backs, and it is in the snow that the "killers" are most active, a reason for which was given later. "All keas are not 'killers' and a 'killer' can always be told from the others, because he will make off while the others will approach people out of curiosity." When a bird becomes a "killer" he is so difficult of approach that he may be followed unsuccessfully for days, while a red handkerchief waved about will attract the average kea in a very short while. So the destruction of the keas is usually a slaughter of the innocent for the guilty. "If a man has a fancy merino flock which he is anxious to protect from the birds, and turns out a few crossbreds among them, the keas will every time take the crossbred and leave the merino—a point which Mr Nicholson and his friends may not know." The informant remembered one case in particular, merino ewes and English Leicester rams were turned out in May, and though the weather was not very severe, tho best part of the rams were killed. Then Mr Nicholson said that a sheep was found with six inches of sk'J* hanging from its back. ''lt is all bunkum to attribute that to the kea,' my friend said. "It's the first time I've heard of a kea skinning a sheep. The killers' peck only a small hole into which three fingers can hardly be put, and eat the kidney fat from that." . . How did the kea acquire the practice of killing sheep? There are on our mountains curious plants known as vegetable sheep (Raoulia eximia). Iney are related to some of the small cushion plants found on the stonv river-beds. The vegetable sheep belong to the subalpine belt and their rounded forms covered with woolly hairs are not unlike a recumbent sheep. A good specimen can be seen by anyone visitng the museum. It was explained that in these the keas dug tor grubs, so the transition to picking out a sheep s kidneys when the vegetable sheep are under snow is not difhcult to underantics of the kea make it an engrossing bird. . ■ calamity to wipe them ° ut . *,* / * They are alreadv reduced in numbers and* they can easily be oxterTriniate d Though the nest. being bu,lt terts & I"hit » easily attracted that he made bv experienced shooters But ne m<iue ,-hnot two with one it is impossible to snoot i i r ,« nm >r arc two got into line than the'back one bobs round to WliTcl. IS a ( i aP more ng hnrmful Mackbirds and thrushes, «« .P^ng our hills with gorse and Mackiierpr or the keas killmr a few sheep. was pertinently asked ui conclusion.Yours, etc., H.R. August 4th, 192y«