frum New Zealand and adjacent Islands. 585 



they fear; but probably, like many other creatures, they 

 have chosen the night the better to avoid their enemies. 



" The only enemies they have arc the sand-flics, which do 

 not come out at night, but collect very quickly about any 

 game they find near the ground in the daylight. The 

 Kakapos' slow movements would allow them to be punished 

 very severely if they walked about on the ground in the 

 daytime, for, as I know to my cost, the flies are expert at 

 getting in under cuffs and collars, and may do the same with 

 the Kakapo's loose feathers. Therefore, when the sand-flies 

 have gone to bed the Kakapos come out and gather food in 

 peace and retire in the morning to their dark places, where 

 the former will not enter. 



" When in a Penguin's cave one can always see a cloud of 

 sand-flies near the door, but they will not enter into the 

 gloom. A good many of the wiser Penguins seem to know 

 how far the flies will come in; but some of them place their 

 nests too near the door, where their young ones are severely 

 punished if not killed outright. I had two captive Roas 

 killed by sand-flies. 



lt I was always puzzled to know how it was the Kakapos 

 got so fat in summer-time; but now I find that they suck 

 the honey out of the Rata-blossoms, like all the other bush- 

 birds, and as this honey is plentiful in the Sounds in 

 December, it must form an important item to mix with 

 their various other foods. On 18th December, with the aid 

 of a little glass syringe, I gathered a teaspoonful of this 

 honey in ten minutes, so it must be easy for the Kakapos 

 to get as much of it as they want. The little branches of 

 the Ratas are very strong and able to bear their weight." 



83. Miro albifrons (Gmel.). 



Miro albifrons Buller, B. New Zeal. i. pt. ii. p. 36, pi. i. 

 (1887) ; Lorenz-Liburnau, Ann. Hofmus. Wien, xvii. p. 304 

 (190.2). 



a, b. rS ? adult. South Island, New Zealand, Jannary. 



c, d. $ adult. Dusky Sound, South Island, New Zealand, 

 March. 



