32 



THE KEA. 



a gun. When the killing- fever was at its height, one 

 of the men on delivering his tale of beaks said : ' I shot 

 to-day the queerest Kea I ever saw — all yellow.' 

 He added that there was another similar bird which he 

 could 'not catch. Finding that the man, after cutting 

 off the beak, had thrown the body aside, the manager 

 sent out to search for the bird, but was unsuccessful, 

 some vagrant dog or hawk having carried it away. In a 



w. 



^ 



Lr ■ '^"^^^ 



ilfe^ 





KEAS : Shuwinu the cenkkal shape and appearance of the birhs. 



short time, however, the other was shot and carefully 

 preserved by the manager, who sent it to Mr. C. 

 Turnbull, of Dunedin. The bird has since come into my 

 son's possession, and the whole of the body plumage is 

 vivid canary yellow, deepening on the neck and sides of 

 the body and rump into a rich orange yellow ; most of 

 the scapulars and the quills are of the normal colour, 

 except the first primary in each wing, which is yellowish 

 white ; tail feathers, canary yellow, exsepting two of the 

 outer lateral ones, which are partly normal ; lining of 

 ^wing, delicate orange. Here and there, especially on the 



