Page:The Kea, a New Zealand problem (1909).pdf/133

Rh Several devices are employed to entice the birds within range, and one which is very successful is the using of a decoy. A tame Kea is chained to a rock, and his noisy, excited cries soon attract other Keas that are in the vicinity. As these appear they are shot by the Kea-hunter, who is hidden behind a rock.

An extension of this device is to get two Keas in separate cages and to place them so that they cannot see one another, yet near enough to hear each other’s cries. This causes them to make a great fuss in trying to attract each other, and is generally successful in bringing down a lot of their wild mates.

One man I knew used to take a square yard of scarlet cloth, which he carefully spread out over a rock, placing stones on it to prevent the wind from carrying it away. The vivid colour can be seen a long distance away, in contrast to the sombre colouring of the mountain side; and the Keas, sighting it, heedless of the hidden danger, fly down to satisfy their curiosity, and so become spoil for the hunter’s gun.

Some men have learned to imitate the Kea’s peculiar call, and this seldom fails to add heads to the heap already obtained.

When a number of Keas is present and the Kea-hunter has no more cartridges, the following trick is sometimes resorted to. While in full sight of the birds, he walks behind an overhanging ledge of rock and remains quiet; the Keas, who have been watching his every movement, are almost overwhelmed with a longing to know where he has vanished. They fly on to the rock, and have a somewhat animated discussion as to the reason of his disappearance. Finally one bird walks to the edge and peeps over at him as much as to say, “What on earth are you doing there?” This is the Kea-hunter’s chance; there is a swift blow from his stick, and the Kea topples over. The other birds, seeing that number one has not come back to report, but has also disappeared over that mysterious ledge, likewise go to inspect, and often quite a number are killed in this strange way.