Why so few Keas are seen attacking Sheep.

It has often been asked, If the kea does so much damage to the flocks, how is it that so few people have ever seen the bird at work? The answer to this question is easily found by studying the habits of the bird. It is largely nocturnal, being especially lively in the early morning and the evening, and, if we may take the circumstantial evidence, it appears to do most of its work at night.

Mr. Reginald Foster, “Hasledon,” Christchurch, discussing this subject in a letter to me, says, “I fear, however, that it will be difficult to obtain the evidence of eye-witnesses, because the keas work in the night and very early in the morning. … The work is done, too, pretty high up on the ranges, where the musterer or shepherd perhaps does not reach until 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning.”

Mr. R. Guthrie, in writing to the Timaru Herald, says, “In my opinion the kea, which is of nocturnal habits, does chiefly all its mischief at night or on very dull, foggy days, and never shows its true character in sunshine.”

Mr. J. Logan, of Double Hill Station, Canterbury, writes, “The reason why there are not more eye-witnesses to the ravages of the kea is that the time of its attack is at night or on foggy days.”

Messrs. R. Urquhart, W. N. Ford, and many others give similar evidence.

It can be seen from what these men say that, owing to the time when the kea does the killing, and the distance from the