CHAPTER IX. 



THE KIDNEY THEORY. 



How o'er tlie fasciuating features flits 

 The Efemxine jjassious of the nether pit I 



—Alfred Domett. 



One of the most popular (yet, as I think, erroneous) 

 statements about the Kea, is that the bird chooses the part 

 of the sheep where the kidneys are situated, and then,, 

 burrowing into the living animal by means of its powerful 

 mandibles, devours this delicacy. 



Nearly every writer on the subject repeats the statement, 

 and some even quote it as a proof of the Kea's 

 intelligence. 



In his "History of New Zealand Birds," Sir W. Buller 

 quotes a letter from Mr. W. Chamberlain, of Harbourne Hall, 

 Birmingham, who cited the statement as an indication of the 

 parrot's reasoning powers. He says: — "Consider for a moment 

 the sequence of events and the extraordinary change of habit 

 attributed to the parrot. Between 1865 and 1870 the Kea 

 first comes in contact with the shepherd, and commences to^ 

 steal his meat, with a marked preference for the kidneys. 

 This is natural enough, and any other parrot with a tendency 

 to animal food might do the same, and here the matter 

 would ordinarily rest. The shepherds would protect their 

 meat, and the parrots would return to their natural food. 

 Not so with the Keas. Between five and six years later 

 they found not only that kidneys are somewhere inside living- 

 sheep, but where abouts and the nearest point on the 

 back from which to reach them." 



Mr. Chamberlain is quite right in his statement of the 

 fact, but I think that his deductions are far from correct. 



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