294 Transactions . 



•MX old fellow perrhed on his back and started operations in a 

 most serious manner. He soon had the old horse showinj,^ 

 more life than he had ever done before ; in fact, before he got 

 the kea dislodged he was almost mad. When I got down 

 to him he was in a heavy sweat, and the blood was trickling 

 slightly over his loins. On examination I found a nasty wound 

 that took a long time to heal, as it became very dirty. Ever 

 after, the horse would go almost frantic when there were anv 

 keas about." 



Two of my correspondents record cases where the keas have 

 settled on dogs, and also cases of where rabbits have been killed 

 by these birds. 



Nesting Habits. 



As well as the evidence that I have received, there have 

 been several notes about the kea's nesting habits, which I think 

 are worth while putting on record. Their breeding season 

 has been recorded as beginning in August, but this seems to- 

 be too late in the year. 



Mr. J. Mcintosh, Burke's Pass, says, " They nest at all 

 times from May onwards. T have seen eggs from May on to 

 September." 



Mr. Turton states that he has seen them early in July, and 

 Messrs. Huddleston and Ford in Augu.st. 



The late Mr. Potts (N, A) says, " It breeds in the deep 

 crevices and fissures which cleave and seam the sheer facing 

 of almost perpendicular cliffs, that in places bound, as witli 

 massive ramparts, the higher mountain - spurs. Sometimes, 

 but rarely, the agile musterer, clambering amongst these rocky 

 fastnesses, has found the entrance to the ' run ' used by the 

 breeding pair, and has peered with curious glance, tracing the 

 worn track till its course has been lost in the dimness of the 

 obscure recesses beyond the climber's reach. In these re- 

 treats the home or nesting - place generally remains inviolate, 

 as its natural defences of intervening rocks defy the efi'orts of 

 human hands unless aided by the use of heavy iron implements 

 that no mountaineer would be likely to employ." This account, 

 while giving a very vivid and clear idea of the kea's nest, is 

 not quite correct, for, though the birds usually choose such 

 inaccessible positions, they are influenced a good deal by the 

 nature of the country in which they live. 



From the evidence that I have received it seems that when 

 they are unable to find such positions as described by Mr. Potts 

 they Avill build in any place that comes handy, and their nests 

 have been found in caves, under heaps of rocks, in cairns of 

 stones, in banks, in rabbits' bixrrows, and even on the flat. 



