on the Kea Parrot of Nezv Zealand. 285


began chewing one of the sticks, with the result that the cage

fell down. It was very laughable, but it scared the kea, and he

flew away, nor did we see him again.


TRAPPED AT EAST.


Next morning, at five, I was again at the traps, and the pair of

birds returned. They hopped round as before, and presently,

taking no notice of me, they began billing and cooing on a rock,

very much after the style of tame pigeons. Then the female

flew on to the top of a dead totara stump, and the male settled

just below her, and held up his head while she scratched it with

her bill. If she stopped, he bit her foot, whereupon she would

go on again. At last the male bird, quite unable to resist the

temptation of a large piece of bread with some raspberry stains

on it, went into the trap. While I w T as taking him out, his mate

sat on top of a neighbouring birch tree, and screamed with

extraordinary vehemence. Within ten minutes she also went

into the trap. I rushed up and grabbed her, though in the light

of after events, it appeared to be quite a needless proceeding, as

she did all the grabbing that was necessary—she worked over¬

time on the job, too, it seemed to me.


Later 011 H. came up, and we decided to shift our traps to

a point further up the gully, so we returned to camp, had a

breakfast and lunch in one, and started off up the creek. We

found that the point we wished to reach was quite inaccessible so

we went on climbing, until, at 8 p.111., we got on to a ridge several

thousand feet above our camp, having caught a young male kea

on the way up. We reached camp at about a quarter to ten, and,

too tired to cook any food, ate bread and sugar, and turned in,

only to turn out again in order to prop and stay our tent up in a

howling nor’-west gale until four next morning. That day, the

musterers came in, and we returned with them to Glenthorn.

Two days later we came back to Lake Coleridge, and there turned

our birds out into a cage with four birds they have there. The

row those birds made all night attracted two wild ones down, and

I shot them in the morning. That evening I decided to go on a

mountain, about three miles from the house, and try for some

birds there. Mr. D. Murchison went with me, and almost imme¬

diately on our arrival caught two birds, an old and particularly



