98 Transaction*. — Zoology. 



1880, I shot a very pretty and rare variety of this owl, near 

 Castle Hill, Coromandel, which is now in the valuable collection 

 of New Zealand birds of J. C. Firth, Esq., Auckland. On 

 dissecting a series of these birds, I always found numerous 

 remains of rats and insects in their crops. 



Stringops (Kakapo). 



These birds are not destructive, as they feed on berries, 

 moss, and Alpine vegetation. They have disappeared from the 

 North Island and the northern portion of the South Island, and 

 at present only inhabit a chain of mountains on the West Coast. 



PsiTTAcnxa:. — Parrots. 



The four species in New Zealand are only destructive when 

 they are too numerous. During the fire in Oxford Forest, 

 large flocks of Platycercus nova-zealandia, Eed-fronted Parrakeet 

 (Kakariki), then Flaty. auriceps (Yellow-fronted Parrakeet), came 

 to Christchurch, destroying the fruit of orchards. They were so 

 numerous, I could shoot them from the Museum, where several 

 pairs bred under the roof. On the northern portion of the 

 North Island these birds are getting very raie, except on the 

 outlying islets. 



Platycercus alpinus. — Alpine Parrakeet. 



This pretty little Parrakeet I never found near a habitation, 

 only on the mountains near the Alps, in low thick scrub ; it is a 

 rare bird. Its food consists of berries and seed. 



Nestor (Kaka). 



There are three species in New Zealand; two of them are 

 more useful than destructive, as they destroy numerous insects 

 and their larvse, which they dig out of the ground or rotten wood 

 with their strong bills ; they also feed on berries and various 

 seeds ; but Nestor notabilis (Kea), which fed in former times on 

 the same food as the previous one, has become now a bird of 

 prey, and very destructive on sheep-stations. In the Province 

 of Otago, the station-holders give a reward for the destruction of 

 these birds. In 1878, a gentleman sent me a few Keas, just 

 shot, to Christchurch, remarking, in his letter, they had de- 

 stroyed several of his sheep. When I examined their crops, I 

 found that they contained wool and fat. A Kea, which I had in 

 confinement, preferred carnivorous to vegetable food. On several 

 occasions I saw Keas sailing above sheep, and shot them on the 

 carcase, from which I found they had extracted pieces of flesh. 

 My opinion is that these birds became carnivorous through 

 being numerous when sheep were introduced, and feeding on 

 maggots, which soon appear on carcases of sheep dying on the 

 runs, and have thus probably acquired such a liking for the 

 fatty matter that it has emboldened them to attack hve sheep, 

 which they pick on the back near the kidneys, and thus destroy. 



