Bullee. — On some rare Species of Xew Zealand Birds. 317 



you can often knock them down with a stick, and apparently so inoffen- 

 sive, a single Kea "will swoop down on the strongest fat wether or 

 hoggett, fix himself firmly on its back, generally facing the sheep's tail, 

 and commence digging his daily meal. Sometimes the sheep runs till 

 exhausted, sometimes contents itself by tiwing to dislodge its adversary 

 by a series of contortions only, but the Kea troubles himself very little 

 about either : he hangs on till the sheep gives in. He then digs away, 

 carefully avoiding the backbone, till he reaches the kidney fat. This is his 

 choicest relish. His cries soon attract others, and between them the poor 

 sheep is soon fitted for a museum. Sometimes a sheep gets away from a 

 timid or perhaps less experienced workman ; but he carries with him an 

 indelible scar. On some stations about o per cent, of the whole flock are 

 mustered in at shearing-time more or less marked in this manner, and the 

 death-rate is almost incredible. I have no hesitation in saying that, on the 

 runs bordering the Wanaka and Hawea Lakes, the loss from Keas alone is 

 nothing short of from fifteen to twenty thousand sheep annually, and these 

 the primest of the flocks. Although Keas are seen openly enough in the 

 day-time, there is no doubt they work their mischief mostly at night, a 

 bright moonlight one preferred. A severe winter, with sheep snowed in, is 

 their great opportunity ; and this they avail themselves of to the uttermost. 

 Although like other parrots, they are given to anything in the shape of fun 

 or mischief (and, on one occasion they killed a young kaka, tethered), I 

 have never known them to seriously attack any animal other than a sheep. 

 But as a moiety of them have advanced so far in the course of the last 

 eight or ten years, it is impossible to say to what lengths they may aspire 

 in the future. 



" I cannot state for certainty that there are no Keas north of the limits 

 I have here assigned as their habitat : I can only say that I have travelled 

 over a considerable portion of that country without either seeing or hearing 

 of them. But as to their habits and destructiveness in the neighbour- 

 hood of the great lakes south, I can speak from a long and painful ex- 

 perience." 



As some of those present may not have had an opportunity of examin- 

 ing this carnivorous parrot, I beg to exhibit this evening the bird sent by 

 Mr. Shrimpton, and, at the same time, for purposes of comparison, its 

 well-known congener, the Xestor meridionalis or common kaka. Both 

 species are by nature vegetable-feeders ; and it is a most remarkable fact in 

 natural history that, with the changed condition of its surroundings, this 

 mountain parrot has so rapidly developed a taste for flesh that the instinct 

 has become one of the first habits of life, and almost necessary to the 

 existence of the species, 



