NESTING. 



47 



deep crevices and fissures, which cleave and seam the sheer 

 faces of ahuost inaccessible cliffs, that in places bound as 

 with massive ramparts the higher mountains 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 glances, 

 tracing the worn track till its course has been lost in the 

 dimness of the obscure recesses, beyond the climber's reach. 



JACK'S HILL AND CHIMEBA CREEK. 



SHEWING THE PRECIPITOUS EACES IN WHICH THE KEA NESTS. 



In these retreats the home or nesting place generally remains 

 inviolate, as its natural defences of intervening rocks defy the 

 eff'orts of human hands, unless aided by the use of heavy iron 

 implements that no mountaineer would be likely to employ." 



Even if the ardent collector manages, with great care, to 

 reach the nest, and is able to obtain a foothold on the side 

 of the cliff, he will often find that a crowbar will make little 

 impression on the opening of the " run, " and nothing less 



