Benham. — On the Flesh-eating Propensity of the Kea. 71 



Art. III. — yotes on the Flesh-eating Propensitij of the Kea 

 (Nestor notabilis). 



By W. B. Benham, Professor of Biology, University of Otago. 



[Rend before the Otago Institute, I2th June, 1906.] 

 Plate IV. 

 At a meeting of the Philosophical Institute of Wellington, last 

 session, statements were made to the effect that the mutton- 

 eating habit attributed to the kea {Nestor notabilis) was a myth : 

 at any rate, this was the inference drawn from the reports of the 

 meeting published in the New Zealand Press ; and a paragraph 

 founded on this report appeared in Nature for the 28th December, 

 1905.* 



Since this alleged change of habit is of very great interest 

 to biologists, and has received world-wide currency from the 

 account given by Wallace in his " Darwinism " (p. 75), from 

 which it has been copied into many books discussing evolution, 

 it was very startling to be informed that the flesh-eating habit 

 Avas non-existent in fact, and had only existed in the imagination 

 of certain sheepowners and their shepherds. Biologists have for 

 years been using this alleged change of habit as an illustration 

 of the fact that variation in habit, as well as in structure, occurs 

 in nature ; and to be told now that the change of habit is cjuite 

 mythical is extremely disconcerting. 



But what evidence did those who deny the existence of 

 the habit bring forward ? And on what evidence is the allega- 

 tion of the habit founded ? 



Although I am unable to answer the first question, this is of 

 little consequence, since I am able to give the evidence of some 

 of the many witnesses to the existence of the habit. 



As a matter of fact my attention had been called to the 

 subject in conversation with an Australian colleague during the 

 meeting of the A.A.A.S. in Dunedin in 1904 ; and as a result 

 of that conversation I proceeded to make inquiries of various 

 people in the South Island who were reputed to have had 

 experience of the attacks of the kea on their sheep. And 

 although I made these incjuiries to satisfy my own doubts, yet, 

 in view of the importance of ascertaining and establishing the 

 truth (or otherwise) of the matter, I have come to the con- 

 clusion to put on record the letters containing the personal 



* Immediately on leading this I forwarded a brief note to Nature (1'2) 

 summarising the facts of the present communication. 



