Maeriner. — On the Natural History of the Kea. 297 



old birds teach the young to be carnivorous. Again, the fact 

 that young birds will eat meat does not prove conclusively 

 that they have inherited the taste. Other instances are known 

 where animals have instantaneously taken to food that they 

 could never have tasted before. 



By the kindne,ss of Dr. Cockayne and Mr. E. Jennings of 

 the Dunedin Museum I am abb to publish the following in- 

 teresting incident : While on a toui of the Southern Islands 

 of New Zealand in the Government Steamer " Hinemoa " in 

 1904, a specimen of the flightless duck of New Zealand {Neso- 

 netta aucklandica) was captured and brought alive to Dunedin. 

 From the time of its capture it was fed solely on bread-and- 

 milk, which it seemed to take to very readily. Now, this 

 duck is found only on the Auckland Islands, where it feeds 

 on small crustaceans and other small animals, &c., which are 

 found among the rocks of the sea-shore and the kelp where this 

 bird swims. These islands are uninhabited, and are practic- 

 ally never visited by any shipping except the Government 

 steamer " Hinemoa," which pays them an annual visit. It 

 can almost be taken for certain that this particular bird had 

 never before seen bread, much less tasted it, and yet, when 

 caught, it at once took to this strange food, which was so en- 

 tirely different from its natural supply. This instance, I think, 

 shows that even if birds take to new food readily, it does not 

 prove that the taste is of necessity hereditary. 



Habitat. 



That the kea is found in the mountainous country of Can- 

 terbury, Otago, and Westland is a well-established fact, but 

 whether it lives among the snow-capped peaks and the glaciers 

 or lower down near the forest-line is a question that has never 

 been satisfactorily settled. The generally accepted opinion is 

 that the bird's stronghold is far up among the snow-capped 

 peaks, and a recent book (A) states that the kea lives " up in 

 the mighty mountains where the snow never melts and men 

 seldom go. Sometimes it is driven from its stronghold and is 

 compelled to seek food at lower elevations." 



The late Mr. T. H. Potts (A, N) describes the bird as living 

 " far above the dwarfed vegetation . . . in a region often 

 shrouded with dense mist or driving sleet," &c. 



It is quite true that the keas do sometimes live in these 

 desolate regions, for they are common at Mount Cook near the 

 large glaciers, where they may be seen soaring from peak to 

 peak. Sir Julius von Haast (I, a) saw two of them flying over 

 the Godley Glacier ; but, though he saw keas several times while 

 ■exploring the mountains of Canterbury, only once did he see 



