THE KEA: 



A NEW ZEALAND PROBLEM 



CHAPTER I. 



THE KEA COUNTRY. 



Ranges ou ranges, far crest on crest, 

 The long- Alij-barriers closed the West, 

 Like the walls of the Median city old, 

 A guardian girdle sevenfold. 



There grimmest ridges looked softer through 

 The clinging lilm of their gentle lilue, 

 Where high in the haze of the summits show 

 The cool, faint streaks of belated snow. 



—William Pember Rekves. 



[AVE you ever seen "the Kea Country?" 

 The writer has ; and the way in which the 

 vision came to him seems worth the telling", 

 especially as an introduction to an attempt 

 to describe and discuss one of the most 

 interesting creatures in a land where the 

 interesting abounds. 



For years I had longed to see the haunts of the Kea ; 

 and when at length a convenient winter vacation came, 

 bringing no call to roam more pressing than this, I 

 left the laboratory for the mountains. It is not an expedition 

 to be enjoyed alone. But at the last minute my chosen 

 companion failed me, and, rather than lose a rare chance, 

 I went without him. 



