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trees, in which the brown tinted totara, the silvery Phyllocladus with its 

 purplish points, the small leaved kohai, and the soft bright foliaged ribbonwood 

 contrast well with the dusky hue of the dark leaved Fagus ; far above, dwarf 

 vegetation, in all the wonderful variety of alpine shrubs and flowers, struggles 

 up the steepest slopes, adorning the frowning precipice and foaming cascade, 

 lending its aid in forming scenes of pictui-esque and romantic grandeur, in 

 which rich and vaiying tints of perennial verdure gratify the eyes of the 

 spectator with their beauty. This is the home of the Kea. Amongst holes 

 and fissures in almost inaccessible rocks, in a region often shrouded with dense 

 mists or diiving sleet, whei'e the north-west wind rages at times with terrific 

 violence, here the Green Parrot may be observed, enterijig or leaving crevices 

 iu the rocks, or soaring with motionless wings from peak to peak, far above 

 the screaming kaka or the chattering parroquet ; the swift-winged falcon is 

 perhaps the sole intriider in its wild domain. 



At early dawn its peculiar note is heard, veiy like the mewing of a cat, 

 though in some of the more secluded gullies it may be noticed throughout the 

 day ; it really appears to wake up into activity at dusk, being, to a certain 

 extent, nocturnal in its habits. It is scarcely less gi-egarious than its congener, 

 JV. meridionalis. In the moonlight nights of winter, numbers have been 

 observed on the ground feeding. It can hardly be deemed an arboreal bird in 

 the strict sense of the term. 



The rigour of a hard winter, when the Avhole face of the alpine country is 

 changed so as to be scarcely recognizable under a deep canopy of snow, is not 

 without its influence on the habits of this hardy bird ; it is driven from its 

 stronghold in the rocky gully and compelled to seek its food at a far less 

 elevation, as its food sxipply has passed away gradually at the approach of 

 winter, or lies buried beyond its reach. The honey-bearing flowers have faded 

 and fallen long befoi'e, the season that succeeded with its lavish yield of berries 

 and drupes that gaily decked the close-growing Coprosmas^ the trailing 

 Pimelias, or the sharp-leaved Leucopogon, has succumbed to the stern riile of 

 winter ; nor has this change of season afiected the Flora of the Alps alone, the 

 insect world, in a thousand forms, which enlivened every mountain gully 

 with the chirp and busy hum of life now lies entranced in its mummy 

 state, as inanimate as the torpid lizard that takes its winter's sleep sheltered 

 beneath some well-pressed stone. Under the effects of such a change, that 

 cuts off" such a supply of food, the Kea gradually descends the gullies, where a 

 certain amount of shelter has encouraged the gi^owth of the kohai that yields 

 its supply of hard bitter seeds, the beautiful PittosjJoruins with their small hai-d 

 seeds packed in gluten, and the black-berried ^?'z'5to^e^m/ these and numerous 

 other shrubs, or trees, such as the pitch pine and totai-a, furnish the means of 

 life to the Parrot. It is during the continuance of this season that we have 

 had the best opportunities of becoming somewhat familiar with it. 



