The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-09-26
ATTACKED BY KEA BIRDS.
Fierce Fowl of .he Air Which Inhabit
New Zealand.

Irving Phillips, in San Francisco Examiner
The gentle and well-meanng poet who
extols the timidity of the pretty feathered
songsters of the air should have accom-
panied me on my recent trip to New
Zealand where the kea parrot is lord of
the air and almost of the earth. / have
studied this remarkable bird at close
range, and the conclusion forced upon me
is that he is the most fearless, destructive
highly intelligent, extraordinarily gifted
bird under the sun.
The stories that were told me had all TO
do with the killing OF the sheep, that be-
ing the feature of the birds destructive
ness that interested the New Zealanders
| most. The farmers dreaded the bird as
they dreaded the evil one. Their fiocks
would be peacefully roaming the grazing
grounds, when swoOping through the air
would come dark mass of flying feath-
ers carrying small head that terminated
! IN bill as sharp as d steel marinspike
Each bird singled out a victim and light
ed on its back. Once those claws had
twined themselves into the wool of the
sheep the latter might be given up for
dead mutton. Firmly standing astride the
luckless sheep. the kea would go TO work
with its hon BILL driving down into the
kidneys OF the animal, when. having peck
cd its way into the spine of the sheep, the
bird OF evil releases his hold, flies slowly
! away surfeited with his feast.
The kea does not sit around expecting
| those who are curious concerning his hsb-
| It's 10 look for him. He has d deVouring
| curiosity OF his own that will not allow
| him 10 wait TO be studied. He comes right
! up and studies the student. When | Law
| down they would have pecked their way
! into my anatomy and eaten me alive had
/ not at last sprung TO my feet and driven
| them off.
| / began my studies, having erected my
| abode, which | had brought along with
| me in sections on the back Of d mule
! II was q portable house of stout CORFU
gated iron. 1t would never do in such a
! region 10 sleep with nothing to shield me
/ from the keas. The audacious birds would
! have pecked the mule and me 10 death
as We slept just to see what We were
] made OF.
/ The next most interesting thing | dis
| covered about the kea is that he seems
/ 10 have The power of conversing. If il
/ was not a conversation that was being
| carried on between a flock of these birds
I that lighted near me, and il | was not the
subject or that conversation, then / am
myself unable to speak and hear. The
I keas talked together while they gradually
approached me and craWled around, hop
ping on 10 every part Of my Outft, prying
/ INTO my kettles, my boots, my bottles
I They would take things in their beaks
| and throw them playfully over their
/ heads, try 10 bore their way into the in
| terror Of my camp tins, and finding the
metal harder than they had expected
! would turn II over ana over, looking for
/ 4 weaker part.
/ That night l slept 10 the music of a din
/ that threatened TO distract me. The keaS
/ were on the roof OF The corrugated house
/ They seemed 10 be playing tag all night
/ for the scratching on the iron showed that
( they were constantly In danger OF being
/ crowded of the roof and saved themselves
| only by clawng at the metal. / had had
| enough OF the keas by the morning and
/ got ready 10 pack up and leave. But they
| had not had enough OF me. / was evil
| IDENTIFY the best show that had ever come
| their way.