68 THE KEA. 



the box, and by dint of pushing, with their heads down, 

 they were able to roll the stones off. 



Whether it was done for fun, as the birds have been 

 known to do at the Hermitage, or whether it was done as 

 an attempt to rescue their imprisoned mates, I am not 

 prepared to say. 



At the shepherd's hut at the Mt. Algidus Station there 

 was a tame Kea, who kept the inmates from becommg dull 

 by the mischief into which he was always getting. What he 

 loved most of all was to creep into the kitchen, when the 

 cook was absent, and try all the tempting dishes on the 

 table. He would sample the butter, put his feet into the 

 milk, take a mouthful of jam, upset the sugar-basin, and 

 would usually end up by walking into the treacle pot. When 

 he heard the cook returning he would make a dash for the 

 door, and, as his feet were more or less gripped by the 

 treacle, he would upset the pot and leave the table in a 

 state of chaos. At other times he would interfere with the 

 bread and try the meat, but, as soon as he saw the cook's 

 hand steal towards the long-handled broom, the bird almost 

 fell over himself in his anxiety to get to the door. Outside 

 he worried the kittens and fowls, and once while playing 

 with a ball of string he got so tangled up that he had to 

 be helped to get free. 



The birds make very interesting pets, but are very noisy 

 and destructive, and they need a very strong cage in which 

 to confine them. 



Though very tame and inquisitive, they are not so easily 

 caught in their wild state as one would imagine. To give a 

 good idea of this I cannot do better than quote from a 

 short article by Mr. E. F. Stead, of Christchurch, who has 

 devoted much splendid practical investigation to the bird life 

 of New Zealand. He gives the following graphic account : — 



"The call bird, which had never been in a small cage 

 before, and was very wild when we first put her in the 

 evening before, had got quite used to the surroundings, and had 

 learned how to hang on with her feet and beak, so that she 

 was not knocked about when being carried. It is marvellous 



