Photo by W. Reid] [Wishaw, N.B.
KEA
Also known as the Mountain-nestor.
Photo by D. Le Souef] [Melbourne.
NEW ZEALAND KEA.
The kea frequents the slopes of lofty snow-covered mountains.
Of the first named, the best known is the Kea, or Mountain-nestor, of the South Island, New Zealand. Dull in coloration, and not striking in appearance, it has earned an unenviable notoriety, which appears to rest as much upon fable as upon fact. It seems that, since the introduction of sheep into this part of the world by the settlers, this bird has found a diet of flesh more stimulating than one of fruit. Exactly how this came to be is not known. Two explanations have been advanced. The first has it that the birds settled on the skins of the sheep slaughtered for their wool, and picked off pieces of fat therefrom, as well as various tit-bits from the carcases of the same, and thus found out how toothsome—or beaksome—mutton was. From this they went a step further, and did the slaughtering for themselves. Parties of them now go a-hunting, worry a sheep till exhausted, then dig down through the back, and so wound the intestines that death results. Another explanation is that the birds in the original instance mistook the sheep's backs for the huge masses of lichen common to this region, of which the birds are very fond. Not finding it to their taste at the top, they dug deep, and soon came to the flesh, which, like the forbidden fruit, proved more palatable than that which was provided for them by a bountiful Nature. The result is, that they have become a menace to sheep-farmers, and are on this account in danger of extermination. It has, however, been denied recently that the damage inflicted is anything like so serious as was at one time reported, since on one run, where the damage was unusually large, only 1 in 300 sheep was so attacked. This bird has also been said to attack horses.
Very different, in general appearance and in esteem, are the Lories. Like the Nestors, the tip of the upper jaw, or beak, is smooth, or nearly so; and in this respect these two groups are to be distinguished from all the other parrots; but in the gorgeousness of their plumage they far eclipse their congeners. Absent in New Zealand, they are found elsewhere throughout the Australasian region, inclusive of Polynesia, and are highly esteemed as pets, combining great beauty with a very docile disposition and considerable talking powers.