NOTES ON THE KEA. I 99 



edition, and also included in the second edition). I will confine 

 myself simply to correcting and straightening up false impressions 

 that have got abroad, notably one in a book which is now lying 

 before me called " Darwinism," by Alfred Russel Wallace, and which 

 has constantly been referred to in papers here and abroad. 



I first went to the Makarora Valley, at the head of Lake Wanaka, 

 in December, 1869, and there met Mr. Henry Campbell, who had a 

 station adjoining ours. I was very anxious to get a Kea, as it was 

 then a new bird to me, and I had never, up to that time, either seen 

 or heard one. I learnt from an old Maori the art of calling and 

 trapping them, and to Mr. Campbell I am indebted for a great deal 

 of information concerning their habits. On visiting Lake Wanaka a 

 year later, this gentleman informed me that these birds had taken to 

 killing and eating his sheep, their plan of operation consisting of 

 picking a hole in the sheep's back over the kidneys. Acting on this 

 information, I decided to spend all the time I could spare in endea- 

 vouring to find out the reason of their taking up these carnivorous 

 habits. 



The following statement by Wallace is generally believed to be a 

 correct description of the bird, viz. : — " 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 composed its whole 

 "diet, but since the country it inhabits has been occupied by Euro- 

 " peans, 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 the process of being cured. About 1868 ("? 1870) it was 

 " first observed to attack living sheep, which had frequently been 

 " found with raw and bleeding wounds 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." 



A correct description of the Kea will be found in ' ; New Zealand 

 Birds." The young bird, the first year, is very yellow at the base of 

 the mandibles. The beak of the Kea is longer and not so curved as 

 that of the Kaka (Nestor meridionalis) . The Kaka feeds chiefly on the 

 honey of flowers, and, in winter- time, on the grubs in rotten wood ; I 

 have never seen the Kea take to either of these diets. Its beak is 

 more suitable for grubbing after the larvte of the different insects that 

 are found in the ground, — such as the grub of the Weta of the Natives 

 (Deinacrida) and of the Cicada, of which there are large numbers in 

 the high country of Canterbury and Otago, although they disappear 

 as the country is burnt by the runholder, who not only kills the 

 insects by so doing, but also destroys all the berry-bearing scrub. 

 This process of course improves greatly the sheep-carrying capacity 

 of the soil, but, at the same time, it deprives the Kea of all its natural 

 food, thereby causing the bird to take to a carnivorous diet. They do 

 no harm to the sheep running in the vicinity of Mount Cook, but 

 further down, where the country is denuded of its scrub, they have 

 proved very destructive. They seem to learn the pernicious habit 

 from their neighbours, as I noticed at the Wanaka that, for a time, 

 they left one run strictly alone, while on the adjoining run in six 

 months they killed 100 hoggets out of 1,500. 



