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came down, and, with a supreme disregard for botanical science, tumbled the collection of specimens over 
into the ravine below, and quite beyond recovery. Mr. Potts also records an instance of this bird’s 
extreme inquisitiveness. On one occasion a shepherd’s hut was shut up, and left for a day or two, 
t e man being required elsewhere. On his return he was surprised to hear something moving about 
within the hut; and on entering, he found that the noise proceeded from a Kea, which had gained 
access by the chimney. On a closer survey, the worthy shepherd discovered that his visitor had been 
exercising its powerful mandibles to some effect on his slender stock of goods and chattels. Blankets, 
bedding, and clothes were grievously rent and torn, pannikins and plates scattered about; and every- 
t ling that could be broken was apparently broken very carefully, even the window-frame having been 
attacked with great diligence. 
When hunting for food in its wild mountain home, it may be seen perched for a few moments 
on a jutting rock, then descending to the ground to hunt for grubs and insects, or to gather the 
ripening seeds from certain alpine plants, it disappears for a time and then mounts to the summit 
of another rock, just as I have seen the Common Raven doing in the higher parts of the Bernese 
Alps. 
On the level ground their mode of locomotion is similar to that of the Kaka, consisting 0 f a 
hopping rather than a walking movement. Like that bird also, they are semi-nocturnal, exhibiting 
much activity after dusk and in the early dawn. b 
The cry of the Kea, as generally heard in the early morning, has been aptly compared to the 
mewing of a cat; but it likewise utters a whistle, a chuckle, and a suppressed scream, scarcely distin- 
guishable from the notes of its noisy congener. 
But the most interesting feature in the history of this bird is the extraordinary manner in which 
under the changed conditions of the country, it has developed a carnivorous habit— manifesting it’ 
in the first instance, by a fondness for fresh sheep-skins and other station offal, and then, a:T its 
education progressed, attacking the living sheep for the purpose of tearing out and devouring the 
kidney-fat, and inflicting injuries that generally prove fatal *. This habit, confined at first to only a 
few of the more enterprising birds, soon became general, and it is a common thing now for whole 
parties of them to combine in this novel hunt after live mutton ! So destructive, indeed have they 
become on some of the sheep-runs that the aid of Parliament has been invoked to abate the nuisance 
by offering a subsidy to Kea-hunters f. 
* The first announcement of this strange development of character in the Kea was made in the ‘ Otago Daily Times ’ news 
paper m the following terms For the last three years the sheep belonging to a settler, Mr. Henry Campbell, in the Wanaka 
district (Otago), appeared afflicted with what was thought to be a new kind of disease; neighbours and shepherds were equally 
unable to account for it, haying never seen anything of the kind before. The first appearance of this supposed disease is a patch 
of raw flesh on the loin of the sheep, about the size of a man’s hand; from this, matter continually runs down the side, taking 
the wool completely oft the part it touches ; and in many cases death is the result. At last a shepherd noticed one of the 
Mountain-Parrots sticking to a sheep, and picking at a sore, and the animal seemed unable to get rid of its tormentor The 
runholder gave directions to keep watch on the Parrots when mustering on the high ground; the result has been that during 
the present season, when mustering high up on the ranges near the snow-line, they saw several of the birds surrounding a sheep” 
which was freshly bleeding from a small wound on the loin; on other sheep were noticed places where the Kea had begun to 
attack them, small pieces of wool having been picked out The birds come in flocks, single out a sheep at random, and 
each, alighting on its back in turn, tears out the wool and makes the sheep bleed, till the animal runs away from the rest of the 
sheep. The birds then pursue it, continue attacking it, and force it to run about till it becomes stupid and exhausted. If, in 
that state, it. throws itself down, and lies as much as possible on its hack to keep the birds from picking the part attacked, they 
then pick a fresh hole in its side ; and the sheep, when so set upon, in some instances dies .... Where the birds so attack 
the sheep, the elevation of the country is from 4000 to 5000 feet above the sea-level; and they only do so there in winter-time. 
On a station owned by Mr. Campbell, about thirty miles distant from the other, and at the same altitude, in the same district 
and where the birds are plentiful, they do not attack the sheep in that way.” 
i The following statement appeared in one of the leading newspapers of the colony In one instance a foal was attacked 
m this manner, and would have died had it not been rescued ; in another, 200 out of 500 choice sheep were destroyed by these 
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