THE STORY OF THE KEA. 



PERHAPS the most extraordinary instance of an 

 entire change in the ordinary habits of life of 

 any creature, unique in suddenness as well as 

 in degree, is that exemplified in the New 

 Zealand mountain parrot, the kea. 



This bird is a species apparently confined 

 to the South Island of New Zealand, where it 

 inhabits exclusively the bare and barren heights 

 of the great mountain ranges. It is seldom 

 seen below the so-called 'snow-line,' which is 

 approximately an altitude of some 5000 to 6000 

 feet above sea-level. Here all ' bush' or timber 

 growth ceases, and the heights are covered for 

 half the year with snow. 



This bird for long escaped observation. It 

 is nowhere to be found in great numbers ; it is 

 somewhat local in distribution, and the regions 

 it frequents are often inaccessible. As the 

 pastoral industry of New Zealand developed, it 

 occurred to a few of the more adventurous of 



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