474 KAKAPO 



reached England alive. Yet, though much has been written about 

 it, there is no detailed description of its internal structure, a fact the 

 more to be regretted since the bird is obviously doomed to early 

 extinction, and the opportunity of solving several problems of 

 interest, which a minute examination of its anatomy might afford, 

 will be lost if the matter be not speedily taken in hand. Few 

 existing birds offer a better subject for a monographer, and it is to 

 be hoped that, if perish the genus and species must, posterity will 

 not have to lament the want of an exhaustive treatise on the many 

 and wonderful characteristics of what Prof. Fiirbringer considers 

 {Journ. fur Orn. 1889, pp. 239-241) to be one of the primitive 

 forms of Fsitfaci. 



In habits the Kakapo is almost wholly nocturnal,^ hiding 

 during the daytime in holes (made in some instances it Avould 

 seem by itself) under the roots of trees or rocks, and only issuing 

 forth about sunset to seek for food, which is solely vegetable in 

 kind, and consists of the roots, twigs, leaves, seeds, and fruits of 

 trees, grasses, or ferns — some observers say mosses also. It some- 

 times climbs trees, but generally remains on the ground, only using 

 its comparatively short wings to balance itself in running, or to 

 break its fall when it drops from a tree — though not always then 

 — being apparently quite incapable of real flight. It thus becomes 

 an easy prey to the marauders which the colonists have let loose in 

 New Zealand, so disastrously for its indigenous inhabitants. Sir 

 G. Grey, writing in 1854, said it had been, within the memory of 

 old people, abundant in every part of that country ; but was then 

 found only in the unsettled districts, and thus little hope can be 

 entertained of its surviving much longer. 



The Kakapo is about the size of a Raven, of a green or brownish- 

 green colour, thickly freckled and irregularly barred with dark 

 brown, and dashed here and there with longitudinal stripes of light 

 yellow. Examples are subject. to much variation in colour^ and 

 shade, and in some the lower parts are deeply tinged with yellow. 

 Externally the most striking feature of the bird is its head, armed 

 with a powerful beak, that it well knows how to use, and its face 

 clothed with hairs and elongated feathers that sufficiently resemble 



^ It lias, however, been occasionally observed abroad by day ; and, in captivitj', 

 one example at least is said to have been just as active by day as by night. 



- A specimen in the Britisli Museum (Zool. Voy. ' Erehus ' and ' Terror,' pi. 7) 

 has the prevailing green tint replaced by blue of several shades, and has been 

 described as a distinct species, S. greyi ; but it is obviously in an abnormal con- 

 dition, and its specific distinctness, though admitted by Count T. Salvador! 

 {Cat. B. Br. Mus. xx. p, 601), cannot be maintained without further evidence. 

 Sir W. Buller (Zoc. cit.) describes several varieties of the Kakapo, and Mr. Reischek 

 states {Trans. X. Zeal. Inst. xvii. p. 19G) that examples from the high moun- 

 tains are larger and brighter in colour than those from the lower grounds. 



