GENUS NESTOR. 
THIS genus of the Psittacidce family, consisting of four species, which approximates somewhat to the Nestors 
(hence the distinguishing appelative), has only been found in the insular regions of New Zealand and 
Philip Island (in the latter the species is now extinct). 
It differs from other genera in having the bill much lengthened and compressed into the base of the 
lower mandible, hidden in great part by projecting feathers ; the wings are long, the tail moderate in length and 
even at the tip. 
Buller, our highest authority upon New Zealand birds, says, in speaking of these birds, " To M. M. 
Blanchard and Pelzelen belong the credit of having first determined the true affinities of the genus Nestor, 
assigning it a station in the sub-family Trichoglossince, or honey-eating Parrots. It bears a close relation to the 
Australian Lories ; and the New Guinea form known as Pecquet's Parrot (Dasypt Hits Pecqueti) appears to 
exhibit the transitional or connecting link between those two well-known groups. In habits and structure the 
members of the genus Nestor are true flower-suckers, the tongue being furnished with a brush-like developement 
for that special purpose. The common Kaka is a type of the genus. 
PLATE XXI J. 
NESTOR NOTABILIS. 
KEA, or MOUNTAIN PARROT. Genus: Nestor. 
rpHIS Parrot is remarkable as the largest and most interesting of the four species of Nestors at present known. 
Closely allied to its congeners, Nestor Product us and Nestor Hypopolius (Meridionalis), it differs from 
them, (1) in its greater size, (2) in its more uniform colouring, (3) in the yellow-toothed markings of the 
inner webs of the primaries and secondaries, in the orange-toothed markings of the inner web of the tail 
feathers, and (4) the yellow colouring turning to orange at the base of the under mandible. 
The Kea delights in the solitude of the mountain fastnesses of the South Island of New Zealand, where it 
lives abundantly on the honey-bearing flowers of the region so long as they are in season. When those disappear 
to give place to the berries of such shrubs and plants, as the close-growing Coprosmus (a species of five- 
corner), the trailing Pinelius (Drapetis Tasrnunica ?), and the sharp leaved Leucopogon {Drupracioiis 
Epacrid), it still finds the necessaries of life easily attainable. But when the hard Alpine winter sets in, and the 
mountains are snow-capped far down their sides, food supplies either decay or are hidden under the snowdrifts, 
then the Kea finds it must descend to the lowlands in search of the means of subsistence. 
But to enter fully into the entourage of this interesting bird, one must see it as Mr. Potts did, and as 
his description is masterly in its graphic completeness, I must be forgiven if I introduce it here. "The home of 
the Kea is amongst holes and fissures in almost inaccessible rocks, in a region often shrouded with dense mists 
or driving sleet, where the north-west wind rages at times with terrible violence, here the Green Parrot may be 
observed, entering or leaving crevices in the rocks, or soaring with motionless wings from peak to peak, far above 
the screaming Ka-ka or the chattering Parrakeet. The swift-winged Falcon is perhaps the sole intruder into its 
wild domain In the moonlight nights of winter, numbers have been observed on the ground 
feeding During winter the Kea gradually descends the gullies where a certain amount of shelter 
has encouraged the growth of the Rowhai, that yields its supply of hard bitter seeds, the beautiful Rittosporitrns, 
with their small hard seeds packed in clusters, and the black-berried Aristotelia ; these and numerous other 
shrubs and trees, such as the pitch-pine totera, furnish the means of life to the Parrot." 
