Marriner. — On the Natural History of the Kca. 271 



Art. XXVIII. — Notes on the Natural History of the Kea, with 

 Special Reference to its Reputed Sheep-killitig Propensities. 



By George R. Marriner, F.R.M.S., Assistant, Biological 

 Laboratory, Canterbury College. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, Hth Augiist, lOOti.J 



Introduction. 



The kea {Nestor notahilis) (0, D), or mountain-parrot, is found 

 only in the Middle Island of New Zealand, where it lives among 

 the peaks and valleys of the Southern Alps. When discovered 

 by Mr. William Mantell (0) in 1856 the kea's chief food seemed 

 to consist of insect-larvae and berries ; however, as early as 

 1868 it was suspected not only of eating meat, but of becoming 

 a bird of prey of u.o mean order. Rumours were heard to the 

 effect that the bird attacked and killed sheep for the sake of the 

 kidney and the kidney-fat, which formed its special delicacies.. 



The first recorded instance, which was published in the 

 Daily Olago Times (J, c), runs as follows : " For the last three 

 years the sheep belonging to a settler, Mr. Henry Campbell, in 

 the Wanaka district (Otago), appeared to have been afflicted 

 with a new kind of disease. The first appearance of this sup- 

 posed disease is a patch of raw flesh on the loin of the sheep, 

 about the size of a man's hand. From this, matter continu- 

 allv runs down the sides, takes the wool completely off the pait 

 it touches, and in many cases death is the result. At last a 

 shepherd noticed one of the mountain-parrots sticking to a 

 sheep and picking at a sore, and the animal seemed unable 

 to get rid of its tormentor. The ruuholder gave directions 

 to keep watch on the parrots when mustering on high ground. 

 The result has been that during the present season, when 

 mustering high up on the ranges near the snow-line, they saw 

 several birds surrounding a sheep, which was freshly bleeding 

 from a small wound on the loin ; on other sheep were noticed 

 places where the kea had begun to attack them, small pieces 

 of wool ha\dng been picked out." 



Though this record casts grave suspicion on the kea, it does 

 not by any means absolutely prove that it was the culprit. 

 In the first instance, the bird was only picking at a sore on a 

 sheep's back, just^ as to-day starlings are commonly seen in the 

 same position; and to say that. this fact proves that the sheep 

 was killed by the kea is putting more weight on the evidence 

 than is justifiable. In the second instance, the shepherds saw 

 several keas ''surrounding" (notice, not " attacking " or " peck- 



