Page:The Kea, a New Zealand problem (1909).pdf/66

62 They seem to be exceptionally lively around the Ball Hutt Mt. Cook, in the early morning, for numbers of tourists complain of their noise.

Mr. Fitzgerald, in his book “Climbing in the New Zealand Alps,” describes then thus:—“The Kea parrots disturbed our sleep that night by walking up the iron roof, and (to judge from the sounds) tobogganing down and falling off the edge, with shrieks of terror and rage.”

Several people have actually seen them tobogganing down the corrugated iron roofs,—sliding down on feet and tail, following one another in line, falling off when they reach the edge of the roof, and then flying away with shrieks of delight.

Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf gives the following instances of their quaint ways:—“The Kea occurs in large numbers, up to forty-five being seated on the roof of the Ball Hut at one time, and I myself saw them every morning that I stayed there.

“There is one that always comes round when any visitors arrive. The hut is built on a little stone platform, and, when boots are put there to dry, the Kea always pulls them off and throws them over the platform, rolling them with his head from behind, if they are too heavy to pull with his beak. He will even go into the hut and pull boots out from there. He has also been seen to roll stones down a hill, apparently with the object of watching their fall.

“All the Keas about the hut exhibit great curiosity, and when an alarm clock went off in the building they gathered round shrieking at the top of their voices. When a rag was thrown to them, about six of them would swarm on to it and pull it to pieces; but they still more delight in pulling out the packing of a saddle or any other object which presents sufficient resistance.

“They even settled on the backs of the horses that are taken to the Ball Hut, four or five getting on the back of one horse, clawing and scratching there until the horse kicks up and drives them away.”

They are not so tame now as they were in the early days