in VARIABILITY OF SPECIES IN A STATE OF NATURE 75 



The Kea (Nestor notabilis) is a curious parrot inhabiting the 

 mountain ranges of the Middle Island of Xew Zealand. It 

 belongs to the family of Brush-tongued parrots, and naturally 

 feeds on the honey of flowers and the insects which frequent 

 them, together with such fruits or berries as are found in the 

 region. Till quite recently this comprised its whole diet, but 

 since the country it inhabits has become occupied by Europeans 

 it has developed a taste for a carnivorous diet, with alarming 

 results. It began by picking the sheepskins hung out to dry 

 or the meat in process of being cured. About 1868 it was 

 first observed to attack living sheep, which had frequently 

 been found with raw and bleeding woimds on their backs. 

 Since then it is stated that the bird actually burrows into the 

 living sheep, eating its way down to the kidneys, which form 

 its special delicacy. As a natural consequence, the bird is 

 being destroyed as rapidly as possible, and one of the rare 

 and curious members of the Xew Zealand fauna will no 

 doubt shortly cease to exist. The case affords a remark- 

 able instance of how the climbing feet and powerful hooked 

 beak developed for one set of purposes can be applied to 

 another altogether different purpose, and it also shows how 

 little real stability there may be in what appear to us the 

 most fixed habits of life. A somewhat similar change of diet 

 has been recorded by the Duke of Argyll, in which a goose, 

 reared by a golden eagle, was taught by its foster-parent to 

 eat flesh, which it continued to do regularly and apparently 

 with great relish. 1 



Change of habits appears to be often a result of imitation, 

 of which Mr. Tegetmeier gives some good examples. He states 

 that if pigeons are reared exclusively with small grain, as 

 wheat or barley, they will starve before eating beans. But 

 when they are thus starving, if a bean-eating pigeon is put 

 among them, they follow its example, and thereafter adopt 

 the habit. So fowls sometimes refuse to eat maize, but on 

 seeing others eat it, they do the same and become excessively 

 fond of it. Many persons have found that their yellow 

 crocuses were eaten by sparrows, while the blue, purple, and 

 white coloured varieties were left untouched ; but Mr. Teget- 

 meier, who grows only these latter colours, found that after 

 1 Nature, vol. xix. p. 554. 



