Of an adaptive disposition, it readily learnt thai the beef and mutton hanging on the gallows of the 
lettlen were edible food of the firs! order, and, failing these, the sheepskins themselves were not to be despised. 
The taste once implanted, the Cea wenl further and preyed upon the Live sheep, though it has never been 
known to do so below an altitude of fcOOO or 5000 feet. The mode of attack is somewhat after this fashion: — 
Singling OUl :i sheep thai his strayed :i little fr.)in the llock the birds settle upon it one at a time, each tearing 
:iu:iV Q tu f, 0 f w00 ] an d ;l piece of skin. They prolong the attack until the persecuted animal, separated from 
the ICS! of the flock in its endeavours to free itself from its tormentors, lies down from stupor, exhaustion, and 
n desire to save its back from fresh wounds; then they perch upon its side and tear that, and unless help 
Arrives the animal frequently dies from its injuries. Thus we see from the omnivorous character of their 
tastes, the teas rank among both vegetarian and carnivorous birds. 
Df, Hector found the teas rather plentiful in the Snowy Mountains of the Otago Provinces, and so 
tame thai it was unite easy to knock them over with a stone. They have the same peculiar mode of locomotion 
pj the Ka-ka a hopping rather than a walking step. Their vocal powers are far in advance of those of most of 
the Parrol race, for they have three distinct modes of emitting sound: (1) a mewing cry, (2) a short whistle, 
and (8) b suppressed scream, no like the notes of the Ka-ka as to be hardly distinguishable from it. 
Nothing is known of their breeding habits, though it is a tolerably safe inference that they make nests 
in the crei ices and crannies of rocks among the wild Alpine regions they inhabit. Despite the loneliness of the 
snows regions in the South Island, the Kea has none of the retiring diffidence supposed to he bred by such 
solitude; it has, on the contrary, an all-sufliciency, and self-unconsciousness that are amusing, if a little 
annoying. Possessing a spirit of mischievous inquisitiveness, for which enterprise is a mild term, it has been 
known torn-era shepherd's hul by the chimney during the owner's absence and systematically overturn and destroy 
everything thai came in its way, rending clothes and blankets, upsetting tins and dishes, tearing away at the 
wood. of window sashes in its efforts to effect an escape, and only careful to spare nothing in its deprcdatious 
expedil ion. 
I \i 9emi-nocturnal habits, it is nearly as active by night as by day, and specially utilises the moonlight 
to hunt for food "ii the ground — a fact which further tends to prove that it is not strictly arboral. 
Habitat : South Island, New Zealand. 
The entire plumage of this bird is an olivaceous green, deepening to brown about the head, and paling to 
drab on the under tail feathers ; the secondaries and tertiaries are a dull pale blue fading to olive green ; irides, 
brown ; beak and feet horn colour. 
