NESTING. 57 



were they that when being photographed they did not 

 stir from the position in which they were placed. They 

 kept very healthy, and had an ever-increasing appetite for 

 food. Since their capture, nearly two months before, they 

 had been fed on strips of kidney, which had to be poked 

 down their capacious throats with a small stick. 



The following is a description taken two months after 

 hatching : — 



HEAD. — Beak : Upper mandible large and black in colour, 

 with the exception of a slight tinge of yellow on the top of 

 the arch. It is neither so long nor so curved as that of the 

 adult bird. Lower mandible of a yellow colour, except the 



NESTLING KEA. 



tip, which is black. The wattle around the nostrils is 

 plentiful and of a light yellow colour. The mouth large, 

 with a drooping sac-like structure on each side of the angle of 

 the beak, which stretches for some distance towards the tips 

 of the mandible. (These sacs were very conspicuous, being 

 composed of a yellow material, closely resembling wattle, and 

 their function seems to be to prevent the food tumbling out 

 of the mouth ; for when the beak is open the two sacs are 

 stretched across the gape of the mouth, and form a safe 

 passage for the food to pass down.) 



BODY.— Most of the body, except under the wings, is 

 covered with short quills or feathers. Those expanded 



resemble the adult plumage, being dark green, fringed with 

 dark brown. The large feathers of the wings and tail are just 



