THE STORY OF THE KEA 259 



and small berries (very few) as grew at those 

 altitudes. In short, we considered that the kea 

 was omnivorous, with the exception that it 

 would not eat carrion ; but our only reason for 

 this last conclusion was that we had never seen 

 it doing so and for the former that there was 

 nothing else for it to live on. 



1 How the kea acquired its regrettable habit 

 of eating the backs of live sheep is, and I fear 

 must always be, a matter of conjecture. The 

 only thing certain is that the theory that the 

 bird learned the practice through frequenting 

 slaughter-yards is quite absurd, for the simple 

 reason that there were no such places within 

 two or three thousand feet of the elevation 

 frequented by these parrots, and no one ever 

 saw a kea in those days, when their horrid 

 custom began, so low down. As I have already 

 said, the number of mountain run-holders then 

 was small ; we all knew each other, and we and 

 our shepherds were the only persons who had 

 seen or observed the habits of the kea in any 

 way, and the above theory was unheard of 

 among us. To the best of my recollection, 

 though of this I cannot now be positive, I 

 believe his depredations were first heard of in 

 the south. The shepherds had a theory that 

 these birds began their evil practice through 



