Mr. J. Haast on the Ground- Parrot of New Zealand. 345 



through its head at once. The Maories told me the Kakapo 

 was a very valiant bird, and often fought successfully with their 

 dogs ; but this is scarcely credible, unless their dogs are a very 

 weakly race. My dog, though punished at times, never had a 

 serious battle with one of them. The Kaka [Nestor meridionalis) 

 is a more respectable opponent. With outspread wings he 

 throws himself on his back, and defends himself stoutly with 

 his beak and claws. As I previously observed, the Kakapo 

 sometimes lives in places liable to be flooded. When this 

 occurs, it is, of course, obliged to escape ; but I do not believe 

 that it is able to climb trees, — at least, I never saw it do so 

 when pursued by a dog. Upon one occasion, however, a Kakapo 

 climbed a half-fallen tree-stump, and remained at the top until 

 my dog desisted in his endeavours to capture it. All the 

 habitations of the Kakapo that I examined were natural caves 

 or holes, with the exception of one, which was artificially exca- 

 vated. On the northern part of the Haast River, near the mouth 

 of Clark River, the river-bank had, in consequence of an accu- 

 mulation of deposits, reached a height of from 6 to 8 feet. I 

 observed here several round openings, not large enough for my 

 dog to enter. After smelling about for some time, he com- 

 menced scratching the soil at a place where, as I subsequently 

 perceived, the end of the hollow was situated, and caught the bird. 

 This shows conclusively the ability of the bird to dig and exca- 

 vate. The Rev. Mr. Taylor says, in his work ' Te ika a maui,' that 

 the Kakapo lives in flocks ; but, according to my own observation, 

 the contrary seems to be the case. I have never found more than 

 one bird in a hole ; but very frequently I observed, at a distance 

 of 20 to 30 yards from the first, a second hole, and the bird in 

 this was generally of a different sex from the one in the first ex- 

 cavation. Our camp-fire was several times visited by a pair of 

 them. It appears therefore to me that the birds live singly, but 

 that at night they go together in pairs for the double purpose 

 of feeding and copulation. 



I know nothing about the nesting of the Kakapo; but when 

 the female roams about with her young, she utters a peculiar 

 call, more resembling the grunting of a pig than anything else. 

 The Rev. Mr. Taylor enumerates two kinds of Kakapos on the 



VOL. VI. 2 A 



