S. Porter—The Kea



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in which they were confined. Judging by what the settlers say in the

South Island, the Kea can manage to gain access to sheds, houses,

etc., by opening windows and prising open badly fitting doors and

when once an entry has been made the birds soon play round with

any movable article of furniture or crockery, etc., and in a few hours

there is complete destruction. I have heard of Keas gaining access to

shacks and houses while the owners were away and wrecking every

small movable object. There is no doubt some exaggeration in these

statements as there is in anything to do with the Kea when told by

the general public, but these birds certainly seem to have a very strong

streak of destructiveness in their characters.


Keas love to smash articles made of china or pottery as I have found

to my cost. Coming over on the ship I soon learned to give them only

tins or enamel receptacles for their food and water, for china ones were

immediately seized and banged on the floor until they were broken.

If the birds managed to get hold of anything breakable in their aviary

it was at once smashed to pieces. It is marvellous how a cigarette tin

or metal cup or mug can be entirely flattened by them in the course

of a few days.


Even the double fronts of the cages didn’t stop the birds from

escaping, they would undo the inner door, then get in between the

partition and with their feet against the outer front and their back

against the inner gradually work the former open. Once out it took

nearly half a day to recapture them, the large deck house in which

they were kept on the ship was full of all kinds of lumber, under which

the birds found hiding places much to their satisfaction. Being

terrestrial, nocturnal, and nesting and roosting in small caves and

fissures in the rocks, Keas will explore any dark hole or place that the

ordinary Parrot would be frightened to enter, not only that, but

like an owl the Kea can see perfectly well in the dark. It is a strange

sensation to go into the aviary on a dark night and hear the birds

flying about and feel them touch one with their beaks and yet be

unable to see them. The birds are just as active in the day as at night,

and I have never seen them sleep, in fact I don’t believe they do. At

Mount Cook they can be heard flying round all night. When loose

in a room the Kea is one of the hardest birds to catch, not because he



