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S. Porter—The Kea



is wild, for all Keas are naturally quite tame, but just because he loves

to play “ hide and seek ” under the furniture.


In spite of the formidable beak which we are told is used for tearing

sheep to pieces (!) I have never been bitten by a Kea ; when once

caught they don’t seem to mind being handled in the least. Two girls

told me of an unusual experience when staying for the night in a lonely

hut in the Southern Alps of the South Island. After they had retired

to rest a gentle tapping was heard on the door, which was repeated at

frequent intervals, the occupants were terrified and at last found enough

courage to slip on some clothes and with a big stick go and see who the

unwelcome visitor was, which as you may guess, was a Kea. Tales

told of the intelligence of these birds are legion and after my experience

with them, I can believe a great many of them. When freshly caught,

instead of being a terrified captive like most birds the Kea will quietly

deliberate on the situation until he has formulated in his mind some

manner of escape.


Recently I gave a talk on the Kea at a local natural history society,

and wishing to illustrate my talk wfith a live bird, I put a large Parrot

cage in the Kea’s aviary, holding the door open with a piece of wire,

which I held ready to let the door drop when a bird walked inside.

I baited the cage with an apple which was placed in the middle of the

sand tray so that the birds would have to go inside to get it. The Keas

were far too intelligent for my simple method, after a few minutes

deliberating they closed the door, pulled out the sand tray and thus

got the apple through the opening at the bottom, and they had never

seen a parrot cage before !


They have a large enamel tray for a bath which holds several

gallons of water, this they love to empty with a cigarette tin or cup,

each bird having a turn at baling out the water. Like children, they

love to play about with water, and are never happier than when banging

articles about in their water tray and making a splash.


Owing to the neighbours objecting to their nocturnal calls I had

to have a sound proof house made for them in which they are closed

every night, these calls by the way, are to my ear, at least, quite

pleasant, being like the mewing of a Herring Gull, though several of

the neighbours whose ears are not attuned to bird music have said it



