546 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



strange that a bird with well-formed wings should prefer to 

 use its feet as a means of locomotion, especially when the feet 

 seem rather formed, from the position of the toes, for climbing 

 than for walkino; or for runnino-. To ascertain whether the 

 Kakapo would not fly, or at least flutter when pursued, I had 

 a large specimen which had been captured by my dog with- 

 out being injured, brought to an open place where there was 

 sufficient space to open its wings while running ; but instead 

 of attempthig so to do the bird ran towards the nearest thicket, 

 moving much like a fowl with a celerity that, considering the 

 position of its toes and its unwieldy form, greatly surprised 

 me. Viewed sideways the wings appeared to be closely 

 pressed to the body, but from behind they were observed to 

 be sligiitly open, more apparently for the purpose of preserving 

 a right balance than to aid it in running. Though the body 

 does not seem formed for much locomotion it roams to con- 

 siderable distances sometimes. On one occasion we found 

 the impression of its feet in sand more than half a mile from 

 the river's bank. The crops of those we examined were gene- 

 rally filled with enormous quantities of minutely divided 

 moss ; they were greatly distended, and sometimes so heavy 

 that a single one weighed several ounces. Two specimens 

 had eaten the berries of a species of Coriaria, which had given 

 a peculiar smell to their flesh. A peculiarity resulting from 

 this vegetable " diet is that the bird instead of having, like 

 others, an oily soft kind of fat under the skin, possesses a 

 great quantity of firm and white fat. Its flesh is better and 

 more substantial than that of any other species of Parrot and 

 of exquisite flavour .... I expected to find the Kakapo in 

 well-cxcavatcd caves, with entrances which would only permit 

 the inhabitant to enter ; but I found, with a single exception, 

 that the habitations consisted of clefts or fissures in rocks, 

 holes between the roots of decayed trees, or natural openings 

 between fragments of rock, where my large dog easily entered, 

 and generally returned, head foremost, carrying his prey in his 



