280 Transactions. — Zoology. 



As quoted above, Mr. Huddeston speaks of the kea eating 

 the berries of various alpiue shrubs and trees, among others 

 Panax and Pittosporum ; these are only the taller undergrowth 

 of the forest, or at tiroes a few may be found in a warm gully 

 alongside a small creek. They are all tall shrubs, and I have 

 never seen them growing at the elevation frequented by the 

 kea, but I have no knowledge of the vegetation about Mount 

 Cook. Podocarpus is the generic name of several forest-trees, 

 as the black-pine and totara, and these grow in what are termed 

 the mixed bushes of the lowlands. I once found on a moun- 

 tain-side, growing among and covering a large area of large, 

 angular fragments of broken rocks, a peculiar prostrate shrub, 

 and, after some search, found the seed or berry of this carpet- 

 like growth. My sister made a coloured sketch of the small 

 branch which I brought home. This I sent to Dr. Black, of 

 Dunedin. He replied that he did not recognize it, and had 

 handed the drawing to the care of the local Museum. At 

 that time I had never seen the totara-tree of the forest 

 {Podocarpus totara), but, on seeing a twig and fruit of this 

 tree, I at once saw that my prostrate shrub was a variety of 

 the totara. I hardly think Mr. Huddleston alludes to this 

 variety of Podocarpus, and should be surprised to hear that the 

 kea really has access to the fruit of any of the forest Podo- 

 carpi. 



In this same journal Mr. F. E. Chapman, in describing a 

 botanical expedition which he made to a valley of the Upper 

 Waimakariri, Canterbury, says, " A very interesting Baoulia, 

 or vegetable sheep, was very plentiful on steep, rocky places, 

 but I believe a finer species is found on Mount Torlesse. . . . 

 It is said that the keas tear them up with their powerful 

 beaks, and that these birds learnt to eat mutton through 

 mistaking dead sheep for masses of Baoulia." 



Mr. Huddleston has, to my thinking, made a hasty guess 

 as to keas' bill-of-fare, including Coprosma, Panax, Pitto- 

 sporum, and Podocarpus. Also, I would ask, how could the 

 bird feed in winter on the roots of Aciphylla, Ranunculus, or 

 Celmisia, which would then be covered with a deep winding- 

 sheet of snow 3ft. to 10ft. in thickness ? 



