54 THE KEA. 



I doubt if these rodents would be a match for an infuriated 

 Kea. 



The most likely reason is, I think, that nesting as they do in a 

 season of fierce storms and cold weather, and their young having 

 to stay for some months in the nest, the parent birds are 

 forced to choose a place where the young may be kept 

 warm and dry. 



The Kea's breeding season commences about June and is 

 continued on to September or even later. The usual time for 

 the eggs to be laid is in July, though some say that eggs 

 have been seen in June. This is, however, the exception 

 rather than the rule. I think it is one of the most striking 

 and interesting facts in New Zealand ornithology that the 

 Kea, living in alpine country, where the severity of the 

 winter is especially felt, builds its nest, lays its eggs, hatches 

 and rears its young, all during the severest months of the 

 winter. During this time, its domain is swept by a succession 

 of severe storms of cold wind, accompanied by snow, which 

 covers the ground many inches deep for months ; and, when 

 the sky is clear, very severe frosts set in, which turn every- 

 thing into a solid frozen mass. 



That some birds in warm countries nest in the winter is 

 known ; but that a bird should rear its young in winter,* at 

 an altitude of from 3,000 to 5,000 feet, in a country where even 

 near the sea level the other birds dare not nest until the 

 spring comes is, to say the least, most extraordinary. 

 Again, not only must the parents have a diflficulty in 

 finding food for themselves among the often frozen 

 surroundings, but at this most difficult time of the year 

 they have to supply extra food for their young. 



So far I have heard of no good reason why the Kea 

 should nest in midwinter, and I know of none, unless it be 

 to enable the young to be fully developed before the severe 

 weather again comes round. 



*The fact that Mr. E. F. Stead found a nest with eggs early in January, 190s, 

 seems to show that the birds may nest at any time of the year, the choice 

 depending hirg'ely on the severity of the seasons and the time when the severe 

 storms occur. 



