The kea (Nestor notabilis) is the world’s only alpine parrot, and is endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. Although this large parrot is beloved of modern-day New Zealanders for its cheeky intelligence and mischievous behaviour (when someone else’s tent is being shredded, or pack being raided), it has not always been so loved, and is currently classified as an endangered species. Its decline began in the 19th century, with the arrival of European settlers, their sheep, and the payment of rich rewards to bounty hunters for kea beaks. Written in 1907, The Kea: a New Zealand Problem summarises kea behaviour and the evidence from the 19th century that kea engaged in predatory behaviour towards sheep. (Summary by Gail Timmerman-Vaughan)
Other Audiobook
Audiobook: Electra (Murray Translation)
Electra (the Unmated One) is eaten up with hatred of her mother Clytemnestra and stepfather
Audiobook: Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 029
Twenty short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include
Audiobook: Six Feet Four
A hotel is robbed one night, and a cowboy makes his getaway with but few
Audiobook: Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 1: The Borgias and the Cenci (version 2)
Dumas’s ‘Celebrated Crimes’ was not written for children. The novelist has spared no language–has minced
Audiobook: Bible (Fenton) NT06-NT27: Romans to Revelation
Work on the translation began in 1853 by a London businessman named Ferrar Fenton (1832–1920).
Audiobook: Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy
A collection of true stories of the high seas, from the nineteenth century. Shipwrecks, mutiny,
Audiobook: Marius the Epicurean, Volume 1
Marius the Epicurean is a philosophical novel written by Walter Pater, published in 1885. In
Audiobook: Natchez
Voyage en Amérique de Chateaubriand, peuples indiens. Drame « cornélien », un très beau roman
Audiobook: Daddy-Long-Legs Version 2
Jerusha Abbott was brought up at the John Grier Home, an old-fashioned orphanage. The children
Audiobook: A Woman Who Went to Alaska
Alaska has only been a state since 1959, and the breathtaking terrain remains mostly unspoiled
Audiobook: Milky Way
The Milky Way – F. Tennyson Jesse’s first novel – began life as a 1913
Audiobook: Coo-ee Reciter
Recitation was a vital part of the curriculum in education in the Victorian and Edwardian