“Besides grubs, they feed on the berries of various alpine shrubs and trees, such as the snow-berry, Gaultheria, Coprosma, Panax (Nothopanax), the little black seed in a white skin of Phyllocladus alpinus, and Pittosporum, with its hard seed in a glutinous mass, like bird-lime, and the red berry of the Podocarpus (Nivalis), also on roots of various herbaceous plants—Aciphylla squarrosa and A. Colensoi, Ranunculus Lyallii, celmisias, etc.”
Professor W. B. Benham, when in the Southern Alps, saw some Keas eating the orange berries of the low-growing heath, Leucopogon Fraseri. He says:—“Two birds were feeding on these berries within two yards of where I was sitting; they ate the juicy part of the berry, putting out the skin and usually the ‘seed’ also, which I found afterwards on the ground, though now and then I heard the bird crack the seed; so that occasionally at any rate it swallows this.”
A correspondent, writing on this subject, says:—“I have watched the Kea pecking grubs out of a dead tree, and have frequently noticed them picking into the earth for the roots with their beaks.”
Another says:—“I have shot very few [Keas] that have not had mutton in their crops, and next to that are grubs and the roots of aniseed. In summer and autumn they go for berries, such as snow-berries, etc., and also the honey out of the flax seed (Phormium tenax).”
Miss Eva C. Izard, of Christchurch, has placed me under obligation by putting her Keas through a special course of food in order to ascertain their particular tastes; and, in addition to this, so tame was one of them that it was given at certain times the run of the orchard and grounds and so could help itself to the many native plants found there. In this way, observing the birds under circumstances as natural as possible, Miss Izard was able to supply me with much useful information regarding their natural foods. I cannot do better than quote her letter:—“I have been putting the Kea through a course of native berries as far as practicable. He likes Coprosma best, but he never eats the seed, only the outside. Konini (Fuchsia exorticata) will suit him, but he only eats it out
