A SCIENTIST AMONG THE KEAS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2145, 30 July 1907, Page 2

A SCIENTIST AMONG THE KEAS.

AN ARDUOUS INVESTIGATION.

AIR. G. R. AIARRINER’S EXPERIENCES.

Having established as many facts about the keif* as it was possible to do oil the evidence of other people who had seen its depredations, Mr. Goorge It. Marriner, F.R.M.S., assistant in Biology at Canterbury College, decided to go himself and. study the murderous bird in its mountain fastnesses. When Science sets a task before her followers they aro not easily deterred. The hen hides its eggs in narrow crevices of the almost inaccessible walls of a cliff far back in the mountain ranges. The shepherd’s eye can seldom note the significance of those tiny openings in the rugged rock; no scientist had over studied them before so far as Mr. Marriner could learn. The proper time to study keas is the winter time, which is not a comfortable season in the ranges. But Mr. Marringer was determined to see some keas’ nests, and also observe with his eyes the keas’ deadly work among the sheep, if he might he so fortunate. He wished also to learn whether, as some aver, the flesh-loving bird feeds harmlessly in winter upon grubs and berries. So, weighted d own with cameras and other Mr. Marriner started on his bicycle from Glentunnel to see the kea in its snow-bound native haunts. From Glentunnel he rode to Lake Coleridge Station, where he obtain'd a horse, with which lie pushed on to Mount Algidus Station, at the Rakaia Forks. He commenced liis investigations by spending a morning hi the hush tearing up mountain daisies, ripping the bark from trees, and probing the decayed vegetation, with a view to the discovery of the kea’s alleged winter diet. He could not find snfficent grubs or insects to support a family of humming birds. In the afternoon lie went up Mount Algidus, and dug up a great number of cotton plants, to see if there were any grubs on the roots, such grubs being reported to be a great kea delieaev. He did not find any grubs worth speaking of. ROBBING KEAS’ NESTS,

The next day came with a howling storm and drenching rain, but Mr. Urquhart, manager of the station, anew where to lind two keas’ nests, and even at the risk of being cut off by the swollen streams on his return to town, Mr. Marriner could not resist the desire to. visit these, some months before Mr. Urquhart had taken from them three young reas, two of which lie had sent to .Mr. Marriner in Christchurch. The bunder was not easily obtained. Durng a pitch black night, he and others climbed along a slijipery face of cliff, aid with a crowbar wrenched away * big rock which almost covered t'he entrance to the fissure which served ■is a nest. Olio of them mimicked with his lips the distinctive note if a kea, to which the ■ small birds made response. The mother bird was 'killed, and the men put the iittle ones inside their shirts for warmth and safety. The father bird 'scaped, and though- Mr. XJrquhart returned the next day and stayed 111 hour or two about the place, he did not catch a glimpse of him until, when lie was about to give .up the I search in despair, he spied the old bird watching him in artful silence from a tree, where he had probably been perched throughout the proceedings. He carefully avoided any I closer aquaintanee. I To tins spot, Mr. XJrquhart led I the scientist through driving sleet I md hail, against a freezing win’d. I After going up the Rakaia Gorge, I ;hey loft their horses and climbed I ilong the edge of the <sliff to the I nests. The term is almost a misI nomer. Within a great crievico, I in the cliff, about a foot aoross and ten feet deep, and covered almost entirely by a big rock, which the investigators had to remove to effect in entrance were found one or two scraps of straw and a few stones. The other “nest” was about twelve feet deep and only a few inches wide. It would have been impossible to -each this hole had not water in me jilace worn away the cliff. The iests. which were empty, were photographed, Mr Marringer and his compainions soaked to the skin, and ’orered from head to foot with, slush, enjoying a “smoke-oh” in. the bowling rain, while a fifteen minutes’ exposure was allowed for the "■arnera. The photographs, have ome out with remarkable distinctness considering the unfavourable circumstances. They are believed to be the first that’ have yet "Been taken if-a kea’s nest. WOUNDED SHEEP.

On the way back to the station, Mr. Urquhart’s dogs made a dash, towards a sheep, and as the horsemen rode nearer, they noticed a big gash an its hind-quartets. Keas had driven it into a corner where two wire fences met, and there had attacked it with their beaks. An excellent photograph, taken by Mr. Marriner shows that they had torn the poor brute’s back to pieces, and tufts of wool were scattered on every side, ill} main wound, eleven iuclies from che tail, moasured five inches by four inches, and left bare a large area of che bone. There, was a smaller wound further up the back. The kidneys bad not been touched, and the sheep bad evidently died from blood-pois-ming. The next' day was brighter, and Mr. Marriner and Mr. Urquliart went back over part of their journey, accompanied by several shepherds, and dogs. ' They took some more photographs of the sheep, whose carcase bad received further wounds since •fittheir previous visit. Further, in a*' (lock of about twenty, merino rams, they notioed one which seemed to have lost some wool. The animal was' *, quickly rounded up by the dogs, and a festering V-shaped cut, measuring six inches by four inches was •ecu upon its back. The sheep if •*' ' left alone would also die of blood- ' poisoning. Heavy snow was falling on the following day, and fearing that if he waited longer lie would be quito unable to.got back to town, Mr. Marriner set out on horse-back for the rido of twenty miles to the Lake wolondge Station. The entire hills ivero covered with snow, and their white peaks, now shining in the sun’s . rays, now shrouded in a black pall which presently brought clown a deuge of thick moisture, were a spec-i-nclo worth all the discomforts of the journey. Mr. Marriner’s horse ’ould hardly move during half the time bv reason of the thick balls of snow that- collected on his feet, Tho enthusiasts reached Lake Coleridgo station at three o’clock where Mrs 4, Murchison gave him hospitable wel'ome. He learned that keas had been attacking the sheep in that neighbourhood during his absence, and a sheep discovered wounded and brought into tho yard the night before, was found dead in the inornuig. Mr Marriner’s camera was - immediately m requisition. The j'dioep, a four-tooth ewe, had a largo -omul gash on its back. The kidnevs • had not ben touched, and it .had dickl at blood-poisoning. L

CYCLING ON SNOW? A long bicycle journey over the tJnck, fresh-fallen snow, with equipment weighing about sixty pounds, was Mr. Marriner’s next oraeal for the sake of Science. When he arrived at Snowcipn homestead the snow seemed thicker than before, and twenty miles remained before lie could reach Glent'unnel. Oil flat country it was impossible to ride a yard and down hill it was almost, equally impossible, unless the grade was very steep. Out of the twenty miles Mr. Marriner walked fifteen, ■‘perspiring like a water-can” in the hot sun. But longest journeys have 'b an ending, and Glentunnel reached, Hie train soon carried him to Christchurch.

In seeing, in a few days, so many evidences of the kca’s ravages, Mr. Marriner was singularly fortunate.' It is remarkable that he did not see a single kea, but lie heard several. When it is killing, the kea, he states, is very quiet. It will sit on a rock and watch one without making tho slightest- noise.

Mr. Marriner hopes-to publish tho results of his investigations in the Transactions of the Philosophical Intitute.