100 THE KEA. 



even more. Really they are shrubs of the daisy family, and 

 are provided with a thick, stout, v^oody main stem and 

 strong roots, which pass far into the rock crevices. Above, 

 the stems branch again and again, and towards their 

 extremities are covered with small woolly leaves, packed as 

 tightly as possible. Finally stems, branches and leaves are 

 all pressed into a dense, hard, convex mass, making an 

 excellent seat for a wearied botanist. Within the plant is a 

 peat made of its rotting leaves and branches, which holds 

 water like a sponge, and into which the final branchlets put 

 their roots : thus the plant lives in a great measure on its 

 own decay." 



There are two kinds ; a finer one f Raoulia eximiaj which 

 is of a greyish blue colour, and is found over many 

 mountains in Canterbury, and a coarser kind (Ilaasfiu 

 jndvinarisj which is of a yellowish brown colour and is 

 confined to the mountains just north of Canterbury. 



At a distance a number of these plants do somewhat 

 resemble a few sheep lying down ; hence the name. 



The supporters of the theory hold that the Kea was in 

 the habit of tearing open these plants in order to get out 

 the large white grubs, which were said to live in them ; 

 and that, when sheep first wandered into the birds' 

 domain, they were mistaken for the woolly vegetable sheep. 

 The bird, with the intention of digging out the grubs, was 

 supposed to tear open the animal's skin, and, finding meat 

 and fat even more appetising than the grubs, persisted in 

 its efi'orts and so acquired the habit of sheep-killing. 



All this sounds very reasonable, but unfortunately for 

 the theorists it will not bear investigation. 



The first objection is that, where the Kea was first 

 known to attack sheep, the true vegetable sheep are 

 unknown, and many mosses are just as conspicuous as the 

 species of limndiii that grows around Lake Wanaka. RuouUa 

 e:rimia does not grow further south than Mt. Ida in Central 

 Otago, at present its only known habitat in that province. 



Secondly, no large white grubs, big enough to cause the 

 Kea to tear up these tough plants, have ever (as far as I can 



