r NOTES ON THE KEA. 201 



season, at the hut erected by the Government on the Ball Glacier. 

 The birds would perch on the top of the roof, and, two or three at a 

 time, would slide on their tails down the corrugated iron until they 

 reached the lower edge, when they would fly oft' and continue the 

 game for an hour or more. 



I am unable to give a correct estimate of the number killed in 

 the Mount Cook — Lake Wakatipu districts. The slaughter of them 

 at times has been very great; at Lake Wanaka, in four years, I 

 myself killed over three thousand ; and I know of several up-country 

 stations where 100 to 200 were killed yearly. To reduce their 

 numbers, the County Councils used to give from one to two shillings 

 per beak, and the Government then gave the Councils a subsidy of £ 

 for £,. This has now been discontinued, which has resulted in the 

 birds not being as much sought after, and so given a chance of 

 increase — a chance of which they will not be loth to take advantage. 

 About Mount Cook they breed very early in the year, as I have found 

 their nests in August, when snow was on the ground. 



The first time that I saw the nests at that time of the year was 

 when I was shooting, at an altitude of 3,000 feet. I shot a bird that 

 was sitting on a rock ; after it fell, another appeared on the rock, and 

 from the same place I shot twenty-two. I went to pick up the dead 

 birds, and I then found that they had, in the first place, all come 

 out of a hole under the rock. On looking into the hole I saw 

 something moving, which eventually turned out to be young birds. 



They were out of reach, but after some trouble I managed to 

 noose one, and I found that it was in its nesting plumage of slate- 

 coloured down, with very yellow beak and legs. There were others 

 in different stages of growth, also eggs. I have since found other 

 nests, and have noticed that, after a time, the old birds leave the half- 

 grown ones to hatch out the late eggs, all the community doing their 

 share of feeding the young. The same habit I have noticed in the 

 case of the native parroquet. The Kea's egg is white and about the 

 size of a pigeon's, but rounder and with a rough shell. The young 

 do not come out of the nest until fully fledged and able to fly. The 

 old birds are very courageous, and in defence of their young I have 

 seen the parent birds tackle a hawk, and nearly pluck him before he 

 could get away. The young birds are so tame that if a person comes 

 across a flock of them and keeps perfectly still, they will walk up to 

 him and pull at his clothes. They will learn to talk but are rather 

 noisy. 



It is very pleasing to watch these birds as they congregate after 

 the sun sets, and if a person can " call " them they will answer with 

 their usual response of " Ke-a ! Ke-a ! Bow-wow ! Bow-wow ! " 



Like many of our native birds, the Kea will gradually retreat 

 before the march of civilisation, and they will live only in such works 

 as Buller's " History of New Zealand Birds," and others of the same 

 nature. 



F. F. C. HUDDLESTON. 



