from New Zealand and adjacent Islands. 583 



82. Stkingops iiabroptilus G. R. Gray. 



Stringops habroptilus Buller, B. New Zeal. i. pts. iv.-vi. 

 p. 176, pi. vii. (1888) ; Salvad. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xx. 

 p. 599 (1891) ; Lorenz-Liburnau, Ann. Hofmus. Wien, xvii. 

 p. 320 (1902). 



a-c. <$ $ adult. Dusky Sound, South Island, New Zealand. 



d, e. Adult (in spirits). Dusky Sound, South Island, 

 New Zealand. 



Mr. Richard Henry has supplied Lord Ranfurly with the 

 following notes : — 



"The male Kakapo can swell up his 'air-sac/ of which 

 the female has no trace, till it is nearly as big as his body, 

 and must be a formidable-looking fellow on parade ; I never 

 saw one booming, for they never do so in captivity. 



" I went a special trip to Wet Jacket Arm to try and get 

 better acquainted with them, and on the 21st January, 1898, 

 climbed a high ridge south-west of Oke Island. It was very 

 steep and rough, and all along its narrow top for half a mile 

 were a number of ' dusting-holes/ as I used to call them, 

 but there was not a particle of dust in them, for there had 

 been about an inch of rain every day for a month. ' Dusting- 

 holes ' is perhaps a bad name ; ' bowers ' would, I think, be 

 more suitable. They were about 18 inches in diameter, 

 fairly level on the bottom, and 3 inches deep, with steep 

 sides. In some the peaty earth was firmly pressed down as 

 if by the naked hand, while in others it was freshly raked up 

 and loose. All were connected with one another by fresh, 

 well-beaten pathways, and at this season a good many birds 

 must go up there of an evening, but in the off-season the 

 place is deserted. This suggests that the bowers are used 

 for dancing or parades in the courting-season. The 

 Australian Lyre-birds make very similar holes. 



" Someone suggested that the booming may be a defiance 

 or a challenge between the males, as is the case of cocks 

 crowing ; but I think that among the thinly-scattered 

 population of Kakapos in this dense forest, with such poor 

 means of travelling, it was necessary for either the male or 

 female to have a loud call. The voice of the female Kakapo 



