488 



The Living Animals ot the World 



Plwto lit) D. U Soucf] 



[ildljuiir 



NEW ZKALAXI) KEA. 

 The kea frequents the slopes of lufty sQow-covered mountains. 



Of tlie first named, the best known is the Kea, or Mountain-inestok, of the South 

 Island, ]N'e\v Zealand. Dull in ccjloration, and not striking in appearance, it has earned an 

 unenviable notoriety, wliich appears to rest as much upon fable as upon fact. It seems that, 

 since the introduction of sheep into this part of the world by the settlers, this bird has 

 found a diet of flesh more stimulating than one of fruit. Exactly how this came to be is 

 not known. Two explanations have been advanced. The first has it that the birds settled 

 on the skins of the sheep slaughtered for their wool, and picked off pieces of fat therefrom, 

 as well as various tit-bits from the carcases of the same, and thus found out how toothsome — 

 or beaksome — mutton was. P'rom this they went a step further, and did the slaughtering 

 for themselves. Parties of them now go a-liunting, worry a sheep till exhausted, then dig 

 down through tlie back, and so wound the intestines tliat death results. Another explanation 

 is that the birds in the original instance mistook the sheep's backs for the huge masses 

 of lichen common to this region, of which the birds are very fond. Not finding it 1o 

 their taste at the top, tliey dug deep, and soon came to the flesh, which, like the forbidden 

 fruit, proved more j)alatable than that which was provided for them by a bountiful Nature. 

 Tlie result is, that they have become a menace to sheep-farmers, and are on this account in 

 danger of extermination. It has, however, been denied recently that the damage inflicted 



one run, where 



th 



is anything like so serious as was at one time reported, since on 



damage was unusually large, only 1 in 300 sheep was so attacked. Tliis bird has also been 



said to attack horses. 



Very different, in general appearance and in esteem, are the Lories, l^ike the Nestors, 

 the tip of the upper jaw, or beak, is smooth, or nearly so ; and in this respect these two 

 groups are to be distinguished from all the other parrots ; but in the gorgeousness of their 

 plumage they far eclipse their congeners. Absent in New Zealand, they are found elsewhere 



