PARROTS. 



351 



ina; a dog or cat cIoro to its cage, and it has danced backwards and forwards with 

 oiit-strotchcd wings, evidently witli tlie intention of sliannning anger, and lias testified 

 its "lee at the success of the mananivrc by the most absurd and grotesque attitudes. 

 • One trick especially it has, which it almost invariably uses when pleased, and that is 

 to march about with its head twisted round, and its beak in the air, — wishing, I sup- 

 pose, to see how things look wrong way up, or perha])s it wishes to fancy itself in 

 New Zealand again." 



Fig. 158. — SIringops habroptihts^ owl-parrot. 



The kakapo is described as very intelligent, and would make a nice pet were it 

 more cleanly in its habits. Its nest is placed under trees and rocks, and in it, it lays 

 two or three wliite eggs. It lives in holes in the ground, and its flight is described to 

 be much like that of the flying scjuirrel. Since the advent of the whites, and the 

 escape into the country of cats, dogs, and rats, these parrots have decreased in num- 

 ber, and their extinction is but a matter of time. 



The single species of Geopsittaciis ( G. occiJentalis) is the ground-parrot of south- 

 em and western Australia. Little is known of its habits, which are said to resemble 



