Birds of New Zealand. 35 



genous rat ever existed in this country ; and supposing even 

 that there had been a " native rat/* it could only have been 

 exterminated by other rats and mice taking its place. There 

 is also no evidence to show that the Laughing Owl was for- 

 merly " more plentiful than it now is/* or that it has now al- 

 most totally disappeared. During a short tour of six weeks 

 through the Nelson province last summer I twice heard it, 

 once at Fox Hill, and again on the river Conway. 



Besides its laugh it has a peculiar note, like two branches 

 of a tree rubbing together, repeated twice over at considerable 

 intervals. 



Its laugh is very diflFerent from that of the bird that I heard 

 on the Little Barrier Island (Trans. TST. Z. Inst. i. p. 162), 

 which I think must be of another species. 



Stringops habroptilus. 



Dr. Buller's mistake in supposing that the superficial ana- 

 logy of the facial disk of this bird to that of an Owl, as well 

 as the softness of its plumage, and its nocturnal habits, seem 

 '^to prove that it supplies in the grand scheme of nature the 

 connecting link between the Owls and Parrots,*' has been al- 

 ready pointed out (Ann. Nat. Hist. 1872, p. 477), so that I 

 have only to record my total dissent from Dr. Buller*s 

 views. Dr. BuUer also states that this " bird is known to be 

 a ground-feeder with a voracious appetite, and to subsist 

 chiefly on mosses." That it may sometimes eat moss is 

 probable ; but I have tried in vain to induce it to do so in cap- 

 tivity, and one that escaped in a garden in Auckland re- 

 mained for a fortnight in a clump of pine trees feeding on the 

 flowers, and was never seen to descend to the ground. He 

 also states that " there is no physiological reason why the 

 Kakapo should not be as good a flier as any other Parrot.** 

 [ should have thought that the small pectoral muscles, almost 

 total absence of keel on the sternum, and soft primary fea- 

 thers of the wing, were quite suflicient physiological reasons. 



Nestor occidentalis. 



I agree with Dr. Finsch that this species must be united 

 with N. meridionalis . 



