Page:The Kea, a New Zealand problem (1909).pdf/65

Rh perfect nuisance in the early mornings, sleep being often impossible.

However, the trouble does not stop there: they will often pay a visit of inspection to the tent, and keep one on the qui vive as to what new mischief they will do. Perhaps you hear them rattling the cooking utensils about. That is the merest trifle; but, when they begin to tear the tent,



there is nothing to do but to get up and strike camp as soon as possible.

An experienced Kea-hunter says:—“There is something freakish about the Kea. You have got to the high tops, and perhaps have rested on a rock, keenly alert for any sign of your quarry. There is no indication of a Kea being within a mile of you, but after you have started again and look back, there is a Kea on the very spot that you have just left. Where it comes from is a mystery you don’t pretend to solve. But this is the Kea’s way: sometimes it will shriek to let you know that it is near at hand; at other times it will silently appear by your side, coming apparently from nowhere.”