Page:The Kea, a New Zealand problem (1909).pdf/40

36 Though the mountains in the South Island are high, ranging from five to thirteen thousand feet, and though in winter they are covered with a thick coating of snow, yet in summer, owing to the warm winds and rain from the north west, much of their snow is melted. It is, therefore, only



on the main dividing range and several other more or less isolated peaks that much snow can be found; and this is often confined to the greater heights. Again, if the Kea lives far up above the dwarf vegetation, how is it to subsist?