146 THE ANIMALS OF NEW ZEALAND 



till its course has been lost in the dimness of the obscure recesses 

 beyond the climber's reach. In these retreats the home or 

 nesting place generally remains inviolate, as its natural defences 

 of intervening rocks defy the efforts of human hands, unless 

 aided by the use of heavy iron implements that no mountaineer 

 would be likely to employ. ' ' 



Another extract may be made from Mr. Potts 's works to show 

 the nature of the country usually inhabited by the kea. The 

 writer says : ' ' Where I have most observed it has been above 

 the gorge of the Rangitata, one of the great snow rivers. This 

 stream, which derives its source from the glaciers embedded in 

 the gloomy and secluded fastnesses of the Southern Alps, is 

 periodically swollen by the melting of the snows and by the heavy 

 north-west rain that falls during the spring and autumn months. 

 Fed by numerous creeks and tributaries from every converging 

 valley, its volume increases, and it rushes noisily and impetuously 

 over its rough boulder-bed till the junction of the Havelock, the 

 Lawrence and the Clyde swells its waters into a large river. The 

 lofty, rugged mountains which imprison it present almost every 

 conceivable variety of outline. There are jagged peaks crowned 

 with snow ; and countless moraines show where the avalanche and 

 the snow-slip have thundered down into the valley below. The 

 river is bordered here and there by grassy flats and hanging 

 woods of timber trees, in which the brown-tinted totara, the 

 silvery parsley-pine with its purplish points, the small-leaved 

 kowhai, and the soft, bright-foliaged ribbonwood contrast well 

 with the dusky hue of the dark-leaved fagus. Far above, dwarf 

 vegetation in all the wonderful variety of alpine shrubs and 

 flowers struggles up the steepest slopes, adorning the frowning 

 precipice and foaming cascade, lending its aid in forming scenes 

 of picturesque and romantic grandeur, in which rich and varying 

 tints of perennial verdure gratify the eye of the spectator with 

 their beauty. This is the home of the kea, amongst holes and 

 fissures in almost inaccessible rocks, in a region often shrouded 

 with dense mists or driving sleet, where, at times, the north-west 

 wind rages with terrific violence." 



