THE KEA:
A NEW ZEALAND PROBLEM
CHAPTER I.
THE KEA COUNTRY.
Ranges on ranges, far crest on crest,
The long Alp-barriers closed the West,
Like the walls of the Median city old,
A guardian girdle sevenfold.
There grimmest ridges looked softer through
The clinging film of their gentle blue,
Where high in the haze of the summits show
The cool, faint streaks of belated snow.
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ave you ever seen “the Kea Country?” The writer has; and the way in which the vision came to him seems worth the telling, especially as an introduction to an attempt to describe and discuss one of the most interesting creatures in a land where the interesting abounds.
For years I had longed to see the haunts of the Kea; and when at length a convenient winter vacation came, bringing no call to roam more pressing than this. I left the laboratory for the mountains. It is not an expedition to be enjoyed alone. But at the last minute my chosen companion failed me, and, rather than lose a rare chance, I went without him.
