488 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



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NEW ZEALAND KEA 



The kta frequents the slopes of lofty inoiv-co'vered mountains 



Of the first named, the best known is the KEA, or MOUNTAIN-NESTOR, of the South 

 Island, New Zealand. Dull in coloration, and not striking in appearance, it has earned an 

 unenviable notoriety, which appears to rest as much upon fable as upon fact. It seems that, 

 since the introduction of sheep into this part of the world by the settlers, this bird has 

 found a diet of flesh more stimulating than one of fruit. Exactly how this came to be is 

 not known. Two explanations have been advanced. The first has it that the birds settled 

 on the skins of the sheep slaughtered for their wool, and picked off pieces of fat therefrom, 

 as well as various tit-bits from the carcases of the same, and thus found out how toothsome 

 or beaksome mutton was. From this they went a step further, and did the slaughtering 

 for themselves. Parties of them now go a-hunting, worry a sheep till exhausted, then dig 

 down through the back, and so wound the intestines that death results. Another explanation 

 is that the birds in the original instance mistook the sheep's backs for the huge masses 

 of lichen common to this region, of which the birds are very fond. Not finding it to 

 their taste at the top, they dug deep, and soon came to the flesh, which, like the forbidden 

 fruit, proved more palatabL- than that which was provided for them by a bountiful Nature. 

 The result is, that they have become a menace to sheep-farmers, and are on this account in 

 danger of extermination. It has, however, been denied recently that the damage inflicted 

 is anything like so serious as was at one time reported, since on one run, where the 

 damage was unusually large, only I in 300 sheep was so attacked. This bird has also been 

 said to attack horses. 



Very different, in general appearance and in esteem, are the LORIES. Like the Nestors, 

 the tip of the upper jaw, or beak, is smooth, or nearly so ; and in this respect these two 

 groups are to be distinguished from all the other parrots ; but in the gorgeousness of their 

 plumage they far eclipse their congeners. Absent in New Zealand, they are found elsewhere 



