Page:The Kea, a New Zealand problem (1909).pdf/56

52 As no one had been near the nest since then, it was almost intact when we found it; and with the exception of the stone removed from the entrance it was just as the birds used it. To call their breeding place a nest is almost to use a misnomer; for the birds choose a natural tunnel in the rocks, one with a narrow opening, just wide enough to allow them to pass in and out, and then place a few pieces of tussock grass at the far end, where the female lays her eggs.

Such was the one I saw. The tunnel or “run” went about six feet into the rock. The opening, after the removal of the large stone, was in the shape of a triangle. The distance from apex to base was fourteen inches, and the base measured nineteen inches. I squeezed in as far as I could, and found, on lighting a match, that the tunnel narrowed as it approached the end, and here in the narrowest part the nest was placed. This nest, at the time it was robbed, contained four young birds.

On the opposite side of the small ravine were the remains of another nest; but the opening was so narrow that I could not get even my head in, and nothing less than dynamite would have widened it. This hole was thirty inches deep and thirteen inches across at its widest part, but it narrowed rapidly as it left the surface. It ran back some ten feet into solid rock and there again enlarged greatly.

After taking notes of both nests, I set to work to photograph them; and not only was the situation awkward owing to the proximity of the cliff, but our troubles were augmented by the rain and mist, which owing to the lateness of the afternoon made the light very feeble. However, as I had come especially to obtain photographs of this phase of the Kea’s life history, I fixed my camera up in the wet, and, after consulting photometer, gave the plates nearly fifteen minutes’ exposure.

Fortunately, on development the negatives came up well. As already remarked, I think they are the first photographs ever taken of a Kea’s nest.

While trying to trap some Keas on the Glenthorne Homestead in January, 1908, Mr Edgar F. Stead was