114 Tra iisaciioiis. — Zoology. 



escaped the observation of the numerous explorers, prospectors, 

 and naturalists who have scoured that country during the past 

 thirty years. Mr. Melland seems to recognise a difficulty here, 

 and attempts to get over it by assuming, first, that the male 

 kakapo is polygamous, and, second, that it breeds only every 

 second year, because, as he asserts, the booming note occurs only 

 every alternate year at Lake Te Anau. The first hypothesis 

 liard'ly affects tlie present question, and, as to the second, it 

 will be time enough to discuss that when the author of the 

 booming note has been found and identified. 



Mr. Melland, when referring to the circumstances of our 

 adventures with our mysterious visitant at the Upper 

 Matukituki, agrees that it was a matter for regret that we had 

 no dog, and states without hesitation that the dog would 

 have surprised its master by bringing him a kakapo. In reply, 

 I would mention that kakapos were plentiful around our upper 

 camp at Cascade Creek, and for the first few nights made the 

 forest resound with their discordant cries. After that they 

 disappeared higher up the valley, being, no doubt, scared by 

 our continued presence. On the other hand, our friend of the 

 booming note was a nightly visitant during our nine days' stay 

 at that camp, his solitary^ unusual note being a source of 

 much speculation and wonder to us all. 



Mr. Melland says the booming is warlike, Mr. Henry that 

 it is amatory. On this question I am unable to express an 

 opinion, but would in passing remark that the bird continued 

 its deep booming note as it manoeuvred around the decoy- 

 fire. 



At our camp near the forks of the river, little more than a 

 mile froin Mr. A. Cameron's homestead, we heard nothing of 

 the familiar calls of the kakapo, but only the deep boom of 

 the strange bird first heard at Cascade Creek. 



Now, Mr. Cameron had lived at the forks of the Matuki- 

 tuki for a number of years. He was an enthusiastic mountaineer 

 and explorer, and was quite familiar with Mount Fox and the 

 high ranges between the sources of the Shotover and Matuki- 

 tuki Rivers. His run extended almost to Cascade Creek, and 

 he had a hut and mustering-yards about two miles below that 

 stream, where he spent some weeks every year, generally in 

 the months of November, December, and January. In reply 

 to our inquiries as to this strange sound, he said he had heard 

 it on only one occasion, some years before, while mustering on 

 the slopes of Mount Fox, facing Mount Aspiring ; but he was 

 puzzled as to the nature of the bird which caused it. 



When it is remembered that kakapos were common in the 

 upper valley of the Matukituki, it is certainly unaccountable 

 that the booming should have been heard so seldom, supposing 

 Ml-. Mclland's assertion to be true. 



