THE KEA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 17 January 1890, Page 2

THE KEA.

The Bird That Eats Kidneys. Mr F. C. Gould in in the Pall Mall Budget supplies tlie following information about the Kea, the New Zealand parrot : — Most people have heard of the New Zealand parrot which of late years has developed a taste for mut ton, being led away by that carnal temptation to forsake the peaceful paths of vegetarian virtue. And what makes this change of diet especially interesting to naturalists is the fact that until sheep were introduced into the island, within the last thirty years or so, these parrots had no conception of mutton, and kidneys were unknown to them. Their habitat is in the hills on the western side of the southern island of New Zealand, and it is geographically impossible that at any period in the history of the bird, mutton formed any portion of its natural food. A few clays ago a friend of mine, who has recently returned from the Antipodes, lent me the skins of two of these singu ai- birds, and learning at the same time there is a specimen in the Zoological Gardens, I determined to obtain an interview if possible. Sure enough th?rfl he was, with a mutton chop hingiug up in his cage,, in which respect be is more fortunate than if he were a doclc labourer on strike, But then tun directors of the Zoological Society are merciful men Hi 3 New Zealaud name is the •' K<V aad here they call him the " Mountain Ka-ka, " and his classical title is " Nestor Notabilis." The bird, as I saw it first iv the akin, w'th out the " nateral stufnV," as Uncle Reams called it looked an uncanny, e>il creature, ami a'though p the flesh he is n :>t so stiff and yet ha loooks more like a bird o

of prey, than a parrot. He ha* none of the jovial features of a " Scratch- o-pole" Poll, who teases tho cat and chuckles out embarrassing disclosures about tho butler and the cook. Neither has ho the dcvi 1-may-care rakishnesß* of the gaudy maew. His "beak looks as if it meant foi' lacerating, _ with its lC.ng upper mandible curving a. long way pver the lower, ami sharplypointed. In. its virtuous days the boak was probably useful for scooping roots out of the earth, but it is only 1 00 well adapted to its change of work, for the bird can cut a sheep open with it. The favourite morsel of the unhappy mutton which attracts the Kea most strongly is the fat on the kidneys, and, having located the spo* in the living animal, he deliberately cuts his wav to it. It is by no means unusual for a sheep to run into the station with a gash over a foot in length on the back. I was curious to know how the bird first became aware of kidneys and how he found out exactly where in the body that honne louche is situated, And soon I interviewed Mr Kert, or Mr Ka-ka, or Mr Nestor, whatever his name maybe. But Mr Kea evidently objected" to interviewers, and for a long time h.O sulked in one corner of his cage. It was all useless: Mr Kea remained obstipately silent, and so I left him. But I was determined to* solve the mystery. So I went to my old friend Methuselah, the Adjutantbird, the wisest and oldest looking creature in all the gardens, and who knows everything. I told him what I wanted, and he immediately sat down opposite to me and began: — " It's the old story," he said, shaking hh head Smournfully ; " the Kea was a happy bird in his Eden amongst the mountains, but one day Mrs K. happened to find a dead! amb which had been cut open, and she tasted a little bit of the kidney, So delicious was it that she took ottfc a piec u > and carded it to her husband and he did eat. Ami from that timenothing would satisfy the K.ea but kidneys, aiul they w«nt from their Eden in tho mountains down foto the plains where the sheep pastured lie. Bat the Bin has- brought its own punishment, for the shepherds imitate the bleating of the sheep, and when the Keas fly to their expected feast the shepherds slay them." "But," said I. " if Kea had not become a bird of blo^d he would never havo emerged from obscurity. If he had stuck to roots and let the sheep alone he would never have been made a ' notabilis." " Ah," replied Methuselah, " fame is more easily gained by spasmodic vicos than by monotonous virtues ; and that is true of parrots as well as of people." " But how were the Kea? able to lo* cate in the living sheep the exact spot where the kidneys are placed Tasked. "Very easily," said Methuselah. "" Birds know a great deal more thati you people think. They started a school of ' practical anatomy,' and made it compulsory."