BIRD SANCTUARIES OF NEW ZEALAND. 421 



Xew Zealaiul no oround {'iieiuics and abinidance of food and cover, 

 it ceased to use its wings, which only subjected it to the risk of being 

 taken b}^ a hawk, and as thcAving's degenerated from disuse the legs 

 develoijed in the same proportiiMi, so that now it is a good runner. 

 Tree parrots in Australia are awkard on the ground, but the seed- 

 eating grass parrots all run quickly. In addition to the islands, 

 which ai-e so convenieiU a sanctuary, the government has two pre- 

 serves for kakapos on the mainland. They are night feeders, though 

 fruit eaters, an unusual coml)ination, as Mr. Henry points out. Like 

 the owls, they have a disk of j)rominent feathers about the eyes, and 

 near the nose those long hair-like feathers or feelers common to noc- 

 turnal birds or those which have their home underground. They are 

 so feeble, so unconscious of having enemies, that one nuiv go up to 

 them without their showing any alarm. If touched they are resent- 

 ful, but if you sit down l)eside the l)ird a little while in daylight it 

 tucks its head cahnly under its wing and goes oif to sleep again. 

 Unlike the wega, the kakapo hides her nest away carefully from her 

 own mate, Avho is generally both fat and indolent. These l)irds only 

 breed every second year, and the curious point al)out them is that all 

 the birds lay in the same season — a peculiarity which naturalists are 

 quite unable to undertsand. Their call at night is very much like the 

 booming of a bittern in the swamps, and the night drumming is only 

 heard just before the nesting time. In the following year they are 

 silent. The birds are always plentiful where wild berries grow 

 thickly, and New Zealanders speak of such spots as '"• kakapo gar- 

 dens." The young, when first hatched, are covered with snow-white 

 down. The holes so frequentl}- found in their gardens, where they 

 have scratched, suggest that they dig for truffles, and it is known that 

 they eat mushrooms. 



The roa, another of the wingless birds, is distinguished by its 

 wonderful beak — long, slender, and slightly curved. This, too, is a 

 night bird, and rarely found far away from forests. It uses its 

 long, snipe-like bill just for the same purpose that the snipe does its 

 bill, except that it works in harder ground, and its chief food is earth- 

 worms. Its sight is poor, but nature, as is usually the case, compen- 

 sates for this defect by sharpening up its sense of smell and hearing. 

 When seen in the moonlight, it moves slowly along with its bill out- 

 stretched, and often stands with the point of its bill resting ui)on the 

 earth, as though either trying to scent the worms or feel for tlieir 

 movements underground. The peculiar thing about their breeding 

 habits is that a young bird a week or so old and a fresh egg ai'e fre- 

 quently found in the same nest. Like the wekas, the parent roas shar-e 

 the cares of a family, tliough in another way^the nuih; does ail the 

 hatching. The young are born with all their feathers like mature 

 birds, and apparently all their intelligence as well, for as soon as they 



