104) Mr. J. Haast on the Birds of New Zealand. 



saod, or hear their call; and only in the upper Mavhera-ti have 

 a few of late been observed. The Kakapo lives in holes bur- 

 rowed in the ground, where it remains during the day, coming 

 out in the night : it feeds on berries and roots. Although able 

 to fly, it rarely or never takes to the wing, as the natives assured 

 me, who in former years often hunted it. For this purpose they 

 generally went to the plains when the berries of the Tutu [Co- 

 riaria sarmeiitosa) were ripe, which are a favourite food of that 

 bird, selecting fine moonlight nights. They ran them down 

 partly with dogs, or even killed them with long sticks upon the 

 Tutu-bushes. Another mode was, when they had found out 

 their holes, to introduce a long stick into them, to which they 

 had fastened several strong flax-snares ; feeling the bird with 

 the end of it, they began to twist the stick so as to bring some 

 part of the bird into the snares, and thus drag it out. The call 

 of the Kakapo, heard during the night, very much resembles 

 the gobble of the Turkey. In the forest a great variety of birds 

 is to be observed, but it would lead me too far were I to enume- 

 rate them all. Some of them are seldom seen, but are every- 

 where to be found; as, for instance, the Owl {Athene nova 

 zelandia:) — the " More-pork" of the settlers — the two melancholy 

 notes of which are invariably heard one hour after sunset and 

 one hour before sunrise. Another inhabitant of the forest and 

 rocky mountain-sides is the Kiwi [Apterijx australis), which is 

 still abundant in many spots, and, judging from their diff"erent 

 calls, of various species. As unfortunately I had no dog with 

 me, I was not able to procure any specimens of them ; but, after 

 what I could observe on the summits of Papahaua, the tracks in 

 the snow showed me that the native description of a large Kiwi, 

 like a Turkey, could not be well exaggerated. The noisy Kaka 

 {Nestor meridionalis) plays a conspicuous role in the forest. It 

 is a gregarious bird, perching generally on the highest trees ; 

 but as soon as the assembled flock hear a noise unknown to 

 them they approach, amusing the traveller by their various quar- 

 relsome notes and shrieks. If in shooting after them one only 

 is wounded so that it may be secured, it is an easy matter to 

 shoot one after the other, as they always come back when they 

 hear the cry of their wounded companion. 



