124 THE KEA. 



In order to give a graphic idea of the ordinary routine of 

 a Kea-hunter's life, I cannot do better than quote from a 

 letter from Mr. J. S. Ryan, who for many years hunted this 

 mountain parrot around Mt. White, Canterbury. 



He writes as follows:— "To hunt the Kea for pleasure or 

 profit is an undertaking that only those who are sound in 

 wind and limb can indulge in with safety. It is not for 

 the untrained plainsman or the ' tired Tims,' who would 

 most propably take more time thinking how to get to the 

 mountain top than they would spend in climbing there. Kea 

 hunting is mostly combined with rabbiting, since one could 

 hardly hunt the Kea from day to day throughout the year 

 without a spell. Rabbiting ' between whiles ' on the low lands 

 affords the necessary change. The usual thing is a weekly 

 wage, and so much per head for Keas, free *' tucker' for self 

 and dogs, a pack-horse, a riding horse, camping outfit 

 (consisting of tent, V billy,' knife and fork, tomahawk, and 

 piece of wire for grid), bread and flour, currants for t'duff' 

 on wet days, butter (if there is any), with as much mutton and 

 potatoes as you care to pack up. To these you add the weekly 

 sporting paper and magazines. A good appetite between meals 

 comes of its own accord. You start ' out back,' say, on 

 Monday morning after coming in for supplies. You have a 

 fair day's ride to the ' out back ' hut, where you pull up for 

 the night, hobble the horses and sleep like a top after the usual 

 good tea of chops, potatoes and ' billy ' tea. Next morning 

 you leave half your supplies at the hut, load up the pack-horse 

 with the remainder, and then start on your way again. Now 

 comes the river, which you cross continually as you work your 

 way up to its source in the same gorge, until you reach the 

 very heart of the mountains, and the towering rocky walls close 

 in on you on either side. It is here that the shrill whistle of 

 the blue mountain duck strikes on your ear through the rush 

 and roar of the river as it twists and leaps among the 

 boulders and dashes its spray on to the bush that comes right 



XA tin cau for boiliug water. tPuddiug 



