1880. `Zoologist' for February, p. 57:
"On the 4th of November last the distinguished surgeon, Mr. John Wood, F.R.S., exhibited before the Pathological Society of London the colon of a sheep, in which the operation known as Colotomy had been performed by a Parrot . . . the species known as the `Kea' by the Maoris, the `Mountain Parrot' of the colonists, <i>Nestor notabilis</i> of Gould. Only five species . . . are known, one of which (<i>Nestor productus</i>) has lately become extinct; they only occur in New Zealand and Norfolk Island. They were formerly classed among the <i>Trichoglossinae</i> or brush-tongued parrots . . . more nearly allied to true <i>Psittaci</i> . . . Its ordinary food consists of berries and insects; but since its Alpine haunts have been reached by the tide of civilization, it has acquired a taste for raw flesh, to obtain which it even attacks living animals."
1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 176:
"We have the hoary-headed nestors, amongst which are found the noisy honey-loving kaka, the hardy kea, that famous sheep- killer and flesh-eater, the dread of many an Alpine sheep farmer."
1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 166:
"<i>Nestor notabilis</i>, Gould, Kea-parrot, Mountain-parrot of the Colonists."
1888. `Antipodean Notes,' p. 74:
"The Kea picks the fat which surrounds the kidneys. . . .
Various theories have been started to explain how this parrot
has become carnivorous."
[Two pages are devoted to the question.]
1889. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iv. p. 19:
"The kea-parrot. . . . The kea is pretty to look at, having rich red and green plumage, but it is a cruel bird. It is said that it will fasten on the back of a living sheep and peck its way down to the kidney-fat, for which this parrot has a special fancy. No tourist need feel compunction about shooting a kea."