Ill 
VARIABILITY OF SPECIES IN A STATE OF NATURE 75 
The Kea (Nestor notabilis) is a curious parrot inhabiting the 
mountain ranges of the Middle Island of New Zealand. It 
belongs to the family of Brush-tongued parrots, and naturally 
feeds on the honey of flowers and the insects which frequent 
them, together with such fruits or berries as are found in the 
region. Till quite recently this comprised its whole diet, but 
since the country it inhabits has become occupied by Europeans 
it has developed a taste for a carnivorous diet, with alarming 
results. It began by picking the sheepskins hung out to dry 
or the meat in process of being cured. About 1868 it was 
first observed to attack living sheep, which had frequently 
been found with raw and bleeding wounds on their backs. 
Since then it is stated that the bird actually burrows into the 
living sheep, eating its way down to the kidneys, which form 
its special delicacy. As a natural consequence, the bird is 
being destroyed as rapidly as possible, and one of the rare 
and curious members of the New Zealand fauna will no 
doubt shortly cease to exist. The case affords a remark¬ 
able instance of how the climbing feet and powerful hooked 
beak developed for one set of purposes can be applied to 
another altogether different purpose, and it also shows how 
little real stability there may be in what appear to us the 
most fixed habits of life. A somewhat similar change of diet 
has been recorded by the Duke of Argyll, in which a goose, 
reared by a golden eagle, was taught by its foster-parent to 
eat flesh, which it continued to do regularly and apparently 
with great relish. 1 
Change of habits appears to be often a result of imitation, 
of which Mr. Tegetmeier gives some good examples. He states 
that if pigeons are reared exclusively with small grain, as 
wheat or barley, they will starve before eating beans. But 
when they are thus starving, if a bean-eating pigeon is put 
among them, they follow its example, and thereafter adopt 
the habit. So fowls sometimes refuse to eat maize, but on 
seeing others eat it, they do the same and become excessively 
fond of it. Many persons have found that their yellow 
crocuses were eaten by sparrows, while the blue, purple, and 
white coloured varieties were left untouched ; hut Mr. Teget- 
meier, Avho grows only these latter colours, found that after 
1 Nature, vol. xix. p. 554. 
