264 APPENDIX 



that it is not only of a very curious but also of 

 a bold and fearless nature, one cannot be much 

 surprised at its acquiring the new habit. Hunger 

 and curiosity linked to energy are, I fancy, 

 powerful stimulants to progress along the "path 

 of evolution." 1 



During the forty or fifty years that have 

 elapsed since the depredations of the kea were 

 first noticed, and eventually brought home to 

 the culprit, a good deal has been learned as to 

 the life-history of the bird. Owing to the 

 remoteness of the regions inhabited by it, and 

 doubtless also to the fact that those brought 

 into immediate contact with it and its progress 

 in evil ways were busy men, such knowledge 

 was of very gradual growth, and came only by 

 slow degrees to the cognisance of the public 

 generally. Such records as were from time to 

 time printed appeared, for the most part, in 

 local publications, chiefly in the Transactions 

 of the New Zealand Institute. 



Since writing this paper, I have read with 

 interest a recent work, entitled The Kea: a 

 New Zealand Problem, by G. R. Marriner, the 

 Curator of the Public Museum, Wanganui, 

 New Zealand. In this little work the principal 

 facts, theories and conclusions have been brought 

 together. It is interesting to find that the views 



