George Reginald Marriner

“ The rugged, barren peaks give place to bush-clad mountains; peak after peak, range after range, they seem to vie with one another in presenting to the traveller scenes most varied and striking. Here a peak mightier than his comrades shoots up his hoary crest into the blue, his lower slopes clothed in evergreen forest of rata, lancewood, ferns and mosses, often so dense as to be impenetrable. As the height increases the growth dwindles, until near the snow-line it gives place to the celmisia and mountain lily, which in turn give place to the cushiony vegetation of the sub-alpine flora. ”

“ One can easily imagine him in spring and summer fossicking in the cushiony vegetation of the sub-alpine meadows for insect larvae, or flying in and out of the bush in search of honey and fruits; while in autumn and winter he would be searching for insects among the crevices of the rocks or eating the berries of the forest. Now that he has taken to sheep-killing much of his spare time is used in worrying the sheep, and in winter the mutton must make a welcome addition to his scanty larder. ”

“ This long stretch of alpine country is the home of the Kea. Here he reigns supreme. At times he may be seen flying about the snow-clad peaks and the glaciers, or hopping from rock to rock in search of food. Again, he may be found in the dense bush, seeking berries or prying curiously into the ways of the homesteads. Here, in a region of mountain, forest and flood, the bird bas lived and flourished for centuries, until man came unbidden. ”

“ Their reinforcements are called from all the surrounding peaks. They rush from the terminal faces of the glaciers; they trickle from the snow-line; they ripple and bubble through the cushion-like vegetation of the higher slopes. Down amid the dense bush they tumble, forming numerous cascades and waterfalls. Here they rattle under a fallen monarch of the forest. There they slip and slide over the great boulders that in vain stand to stem their progress. Down they scramble, seething over the shingle of the river-bed, sweeping round the hill slopes, hurrying to join the roaring river. ”

“ Indeed, you can never suffer from ennui while they remain with you; for, while you are driving one away from your tent, another will be trying his beak on the coat that you have hung up on a tree for safety. With their merry eyes, and their shining coats, their perky ways, and their tameness and extreme inquisitiveness, they are welcome and unwelcome at the same time.
The Kea is one of the most inquisitive birds imaginable, and, indeed, it is this trait in his character that has partly brought about his downfall. ”

“ This awful race is continued until, bruised by its numerous falls, utterly exhausted by its death struggles and maddened with pain, the terrified animal stumbles to rise no more, and becomes an easy prey to the Kea.
Several men have witnessed these awful rushes, and have also come upon the murderer gorging himself on the live sheep, tearing at the kidney fat and pulling at the entrails. ”

“ Though the Kea has become, during the last forty years, the most notorious of all our New Zealand fauna, yet so cunning was the bird, and so secluded was its retreat, that it is only during the last few years that we have pierced the uncertainty that hung around its home life, and have been allowed to gaze with curious eye upon its nest. ”

“ Even if we assume that the Kea has intelligence enough to discover the position of the kidneys, we are still left with a difficulty. We are asked to believe that, within the last fifty years, or even a much shorter period, the acquired character of being able to locate the sheep’s kidneys has become an inherited character and is passed on to the offspring. In believing this we accept as a basis for agrument that which is a matter for keen controversy among our leading biologists, and is by no means decided. No good case can be built on such insecure foundation. ”

“ At other times the terrified sheep, as if making a last despairing attempt to get rid of its enemy, rushes madly forward in one direction, usually down hill, at a terrific speed, quite oblivious of rocks and pitfalls, the Kea meanwhile holding on and balancing itself with outstretched wings. Very soon the sheep strikes a rock or stumbles and rolls over and over down the hill, only to get on its feet again and repeat the performance time after time. When the beast stumbles the Kea rises on its wings, and settles down again on the sheep when it has regained its feet. ”

“ Their flood height can be gauged by the broad reaches of naked shingle flanking the water’s edge. Everywhere else below the hardy tussock is supreme. Above, peaks, jagged and white, stretch away to the great heights of the Southern Alps themselves. It is all so appallingly gigantic that man seems helplessly insignificant.
Behind, running away to the east, the Rakaia cuts its way, first for fourteen miles over a shingle-bed about a mile wide, and then, for another eight, rushing through a narrow defile amid some of the grandest gorge scenery of the Dominion. ”

“ A good deal of support has been given to the Kea’s alleged preference for snow and ice by the fact that travellers, when climbing the Alps, often see the parrot soaring round, and they too readily conclude that this must be its natural environment.
It seems to me that nothing could be more natural than that a bird of such known inquisitiveness and keen sight should fly up and investigate the dark figure of the climber as he makes his way over the snow and ice. ”

“ As has been shown in a previous chapter, it is never happier than when it is pulling something to pieces, and anything with a strange appearance is always a temptation too strong for the Kea to resist. Now, the suggestion embodied in the theory is this—that, when sheep first wandered into the Kea’s domain, as the bird had very likely never before in its life seen anything that walked on four legs, this woolly animal at once aroused its curiosity. With the Kea, to wish to investigate is to do it, and the sheep became a centre of attraction. ”

“ I think it is one of the most striking and interesting facts in New Zealand ornithology that the Kea, living in alpine country, where the severity of the winter is especially felt, builds its nest, lays its eggs, hatches and rears its young, all during the severest months of the winter. During this time, its domain is swept by a succession of severe storms of cold wind, accompanied by snow, which covers the ground many inches deep for months ; and, when the sky is clear, very severe frosts set in, which turn every- thing into a solid frozen mass. ”

“ So popular has it become to describe the Kea as the solitary denizen of the lonely snow-bound alpine peaks, that even some of our present-day scientists, without taking the trouble to ascertain its real habits, prolong the popular erroneous belief that the Kea dwells only amid ice and snow.
A recent book states that it lives “up in the mighty mountains where the snow never melts and men seldom go: sometimes it is driven from its stronghold and is compelled to seek food at lower elevations.” ”

“ Tents get a fair amount of attention from the Kea. I have left a tent in the morning in good order and condition; and when I returned, at the end of the day’s muster, I have found it torn beyond repair, and the birds seemed to be quite enjoying the fun. Clothes hung out to dry at the shepherds’ huts or camp often get torn up, coloured clothes more than white. I, along with two or three other men at a musterer’s camp, saw a Kea take a piece the size of its beak out of a turkish towel, with one peck, almost as clean as it could have been done with a pair of scissors. ”

“ When once you have got a taste of the free life, fresh air, and sunshine of a kind which is only found amongst the mountains, you can never forget it, and at times the longing to climb once again is almost irresistible.”
As Kea hunting is taken up by men all over the Kea country, and each man has to find out the most successful method of killing the birds, there were and are many different ways employed. ”

“ The sheep in its blind rush often comes to a precipice, and, with the same impulse that brought it so far, it leaps over the edge and is dashed to pieces on the ground below. In this case the Kea leaves its hold as soon as the sheep begins to fall, but follows the unfortunate animal in the descent to satisfy its hunger on the result of its labours. ”

“ For the last three years the sheep belonging to a settler, Mr Henry Campbell, in the Wanaka district (Otago) , appeared affected with what was thought to be a new kind of disease; neighbours and shepherds were equally unable to account for it, not having seen anything of the kind before. The first appearance of this supposed disease is a patch of raw flesh on the loin of the sheep, about the size of a man’s hand; from this, matter continually runs down the side, taking the wool completely off the part it touches; and in many cases death is the result. ”

“ As the Kea is really king of the Alps, and drives all the other birds away from its domain, it is difficult to explain the reason why it chooses such a stronghold for its nest. It is only of late years that the weasels and stoats, introduced from Europe, have made their way up to the snow line, and I doubt if these rodents would be a match for an infuriated Kea. ”

“ The call bird, which had never been in a small cage before, and was very wild when we first put her in the evening before, had got quite used to the surroundings, and had learned how to hang on with her feet and beak, so that she was not knocked about when being carried. It is marvellous how quickly a Kea will adapt itself to circumstances. ”

“ It is a well established fact that the Kea is found in the mountainous regions of the South Island of New Zealand; but whether it lives among the snow-capped peaks and glaciers, or lower down near the forest line, is a question that has not so far been satisfactorily answered.
So much romance has surrounded the bird since its discovery that it is difficult to get people to come down to the sober facts of the case. ”

“ All around, the mountain sides are weathered into great shingle slips, marching down to take possession of the plain, debouching here, uniting forces there, now in file, then in column, but always met by the indomitable tussock. The fight goes on, but the tussock is here unbeaten; life tells; “a living dog is better than a dead lion.”
But these shingle slides—which for size and abundance are said to be seen nowhere else in the world, and accounted for by brittle strata and very sudden changes in temperature are an annoyance to the traveller. Travelling is frightfully heavy and slow ”

“ The very fact that, in winter, the heavy falls of snow, accompanied by cold biting winds, drive the Kea to lower altitudes, seems to me to indicate conclusively that the bird is not so fond of cold stormy heights as many people suppose.
People have often wondered how the birds manage to exist in the alpine country when an excessively heavy fall of snow absolutely covers the land for many weeks, so that even the sheep out on the open hill-side are buried so deeply as to prevent the birds molesting them. ”

“ Shepherds are continually travelling up and down the country accompanied by numerous sheep-dogs, which owing to their splendid training are invaluable in the rough country. It is almost impossible to keep them always in sight; and, as they seem to be ever hungry, unless great care is taken they get at the poisoned carcase. In this way a shepherd, in attempting to rid his station of Keas, may lose more by the death of his dog than he has through the ravages of the birds all the winter. ”

“ Life in the central dwelling is as a rule rigorous and lonely enough for the most austere hermit. News from the outer world filters in uncertainly, and usually with intervals of many weeks. For the lonely musterer, or shepherd, in his detached hut, the life is even worse. Little wonder that now and again one becomes mad or misanthropic.
The region is an extremely stormy one. In July of 1907 I stayed some days at the Mt. Algidus Station, a fair sample of those described. It stands about forty miles back from the plains, and includes the Rakaia Forks, shut in among the ranges. ”

“ It has been since proved that there were, and are at the present time, many men who have been eye-witnesses of the birds’ depredations, but from the records available in 1905 not one could be found. It seems a great pity that writers should publish on such meagre evidence, as though it were an indisputably proved fact, the statement that the Kea has become not only carnivorous, but also a bird of prey. ”

“ If, however, closer settlement of the land, accompanied by the destruction of the forest and the systematic slaughter now going on, should threaten to exterminate the Keas, I would suggest that, in order to prevent these interesting birds from becoming absolutely lost to the scientific world, a number of them should be placed on one of the outlying islands, where they could live and flourish without doing injury to any one. The most suitable islands, as far as I can ascertain, are the Aucklands, which lie 190 miles south-by-west from the most southerly point of Stewart Island. ”

“ It is quite a mistake to suppose that all Keas kill or even attack sheep. Just as we have comparatively harmless tigers, who will not attack man except under provocation, and also “man-eaters,” who seem to take a special delight in killing men; so, among the Keas, many of them never attack sheep, while others, usually old birds, seem to enjoy nothing better. ”