THE



Avicultural Magazine


THE JOURNAL OF THE

AVICULTURAL SOCIETY



Fourth Series. —Vol. XII.—No. 3. — All rights reserved. MARCH, 1934



NOTES ON NEW ZEALAND BIRDS


By Sydney Porter

(Continued from page 21 )


The Kea ( Nestor notabilis)


Thousands of feet above sea-level, on the highest ranges of the

Southern Alps of New Zealand, amid scenes of unparallelled splendour,

where the glittering snow-capped peaks of New Zealand’s highest

mountains pierce the celestial blue of the Southern skies, in regions

of eternal snow and ice, where the great blue-green glaciers roll almost

imperceptibly down from the highest peaks, at the very limit of

the stunted alpine growth, we find that strangest of strange birds,

the Kea, to my mind the most fascinating and peculiar bird I have

ever come across.


For countless seons of time this highly aberrant Parrot has fought

the elements and won its battle, becoming in the course of time

perfectly adapted to its environment. But, alas, on the coming of

Man to its mountain fastness, the Kea found an enemy against whom

the odds were a million to one against winning. In vain has it battled

against the blizzards of a million years ; at one swift stroke, com¬

paratively speaking, its death knell was sounded.


That the Kea will become extinct is a matter of much speculation

on the part of naturalists. Some say that owing to the inaccessibility



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