The Kea: a New Zealand problem/Chapter 2

by George Reginald Marriner

CHAPTER II.

 

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DESCRIPTION.

 

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In the midst, iridescent ward glowing,
Full-breasted, bead-eyed,
Bright as the Argus showing,
Not knowing its pride.

—Johannes C. Andersen.

There is nothing very graceful about the Kea, neither in appearance nor in movement. He is a clumsy, awkward-looking, olive-green bird, somewhat larger than a domestic pigeon, with a flat head and a long, sharp, curved beak. His legs are short, so that his tail is often dragging on the ground; and, when not hopping, at which he is an adept, he moves with an ungraceful waddle. There are four toes on each foot, slate-coloured, as is the tarsus, and not only are they placed two each “fore and aft,” but they are long and seem unfit for much walking. To add to his clumsiness, when walking the bird often places the tarsus as well as the foot on the ground, so that feathers on the legs touch the ground.

When the bird settles after flying he appears somewhat graceful, but he very soon ruffles his feathers and hides his symmetry.

The intensity in the colouring of the plumage varies largely according to the season of the year or the age of the bird. Often some appear to be of a dirty, washed-out, brownish green, while others have a beautiful olive-green plumage, tinted with red and brown.

Dull olive-green feathers, edged with black, cover the whole body, except for a band of brick-red feathers (upper tail coverts) over the base of the tail, and a large patch of similarly coloured feathers under each wing.

The green colouration is most vivid on the back and on the sides of the wings, but it gets duller on the ventral surface of the body and towards the head.

The outer webs of the large wing feathers (primaries) have a bright metallic-blue tint, while the inner webs are brownish-black, banded by pale yellow teeth.

The Kea: Showing the usual ruffled condition of the plumage.

The under surfaces of these feathers are similar to the upper, except that the metallic blue colour on the outer webs is absent, being replaced by the general blackish-brown hue.

The tail feathers are nearly equal in length, and the upper surfaces are olive-green, getting paler towards the tips. They are crossed at their extremity by a black band.

The upper mandible, or beak, is smooth, and much curved. It is of a brownish-black colour, with a lighter yellow tint at its crown.

The lower mandible is much shorter, and is nearly straight, It is of lighter colour, being in the young bird mostly yellow, but darkening to a brownish-black as the bird ages.

The eyes are dark brown or black, with a yellow ring of wattle encircling each. There is also some similarly coloured wattle (cere) around the nostrils, which in shade varies from a bright to a dull yellow.

Keas’ heads: Showing the external differences between the sexes.

From a number of specimens kindly lent me by Dr. B. Moorhouse, of Christchurch, I obtained the following average measurements:

Length of the bird from the tip of the beak to the end of the tail—20¼ inches: maximum, 23 inches; minimum, 18½ inches.

Length of the upper mandible from tip to gape—2⅝ inches; maximum, 2¾ inches; minimum, 1⅞ inches.

Length of wing from flexure (carpel), 12 3-5 inches; maximum 13 inches; minimum 12 inches.

The female is very similar to the male, but can often be recognised by the duller plumage. If one is at all familiar with the birds, the beak and general form are good indications; the female is a more slightly built bird, and the beak is neither so stout nor powerful. There may be some confusion when young birds are encountered, but these can always be identified by the quantity of yellow colouring in the mandibles.

Even the young male bird usually has a more heavily built beak than the adult female.

Like other members of the genus Nestor, individuals vary much in the brilliancy of their tints, and sometimes the variation is so marked as to give them an albino or a yellow appearance. Professor F. W. Haslam, of Christchurch, informed me that he saw in one of the Otago homesteads a stuffed Kea that was more or less an albino.

Sir W. Buller gives the following instance of variation in a specimen procured for him from the interior of Otago:—“Bright canary yellow, with a few red feathers interspersed throughout the plumage; vivid red on the rump and upper tail coverts, as well as under the wings. Such a gorgeous bird has never been seen in the district before.”

In the supplement of his “New Zealand Birds” he says:—“About seventeen years ago a beautiful yellow Kea was obtained in the Wanaka Country in the far south. At the time there was a Government bonus of two shillings per head for Keas, as the bird had been proving very destructive to the sheep. Every man on the station, as a rule, carried with him a fowling piece on his rounds and came home at night with a bagful of beaks, thus adding not inconsiderably to his weekly wages. Thousands of pounds were paid in the course of the year by way of bonus in the Wanaka district alone. The last payment made by my informant was £500 in one lump sum. It can be gathered by this what the destruction of Keas was at that time. In consequence of this persistent slaughter they rapidly grew scarcer, till at length there were so few to be seen that the men at work on the round would not encumber themselves with a gun. When the killing fever was at its height, one of the men on delivering his tale of beaks said: ‘I shot to-day the queerest Kea I ever saw—all yellow.’ He added that there was another similar bird which he could not catch. Finding that the man, after cutting off the beak, had thrown the body aside, the manager sent out to search for the bird, but was unsuccessful, some vagrant dog or hawk having carried it away. In a

Keas: Showing the general shape and appearance of the birds.

short time, however, the other was shot and carefully preserved by the manager, who sent is to Mr C. Turnbull, of Dunedin. The bird has since come into my son’s possession, and the whole of the body plumage is vivid canary yellow, deepening on the neck and sides of the body and rump into a rich orange yellow; most of the scapulars and the quills are of the normal colour, except the first primary in each wing, which is yellowish white; tail feathers, canary yellow, excepting two of the outer lateral ones, which are partly normal; lining of wing, delicate orange, Here and there, especially on the head, there is a feather or two of the normal colour. To be exact, this abnormal example was obtained at the head of the Shotover River, on the western side of the Motutapu.”

There have come under my notice two malformations of the Kea’s beak.

The Kea (Museum Specimen): Showing general appearance.

In 1899 a man photographed a Kea that had the upper mandible shot away down to a stump. In spite of this disadvantage the bird was very strong when seen.

I have in my case the head of a Kea shot by Mr. R. Urquhart, near the homestead of Mt. Algidus. The upper mandible by same means had been shot wholly or partly away just at the nostrils, leaving nothing but a stump. Since then, apparently, a new beak has grown out above the old stump, and has curled round over the lower mandible, until it has formed a half circle. The new beak is much narrower at the base than the old one, and does not taper to a point, but ends bluntly. Owing to the long curve on the upper mandible the two beaks would not come close together, and the bird must have found some difficulty in procuring food. However, in spite of this, it was fairly plump when shot and seemed to have got a good deal of enjoyment out of life.

Kea’s head: Showing the abnormal growth of the upper mandible due to a bullet wound.