APPENDIX. 549 



Parrot. Had an opportunity offered for my visiting New 

 Zealand, this void in the history of one of the most interesting 

 of the great group of Parrots should certainly have been filled 

 up ; and I would call the attention of the residents of New 

 Zealand to the subject, in the hope that some of them will 

 study and record the habits and economy of the bird before 

 it be extirpated, and its name and a few stuffed skins alone 

 left as an evidence of its once having existed. 



In his ' Notes on the Birds of New Zealand,' a translation 

 of which will be found in the ' Ibis ' for 1862, Dr. Julius 

 Ilaast says : — " The noisy Kaka plays a conspicuous role in 

 the forest. It is a gregarious bird, perching generally on the 

 highest trees ; but, as soon as the assembled flock hear a 

 noise unknown to them, they approach and amuse the 

 traveller by their various quarrelsome notes and shrieks. If 

 in shooting at them one only be wounded so that it may be 

 secured, it is an easy matter to shoot one after the other, as 

 they always come back when they hear the cry of a wounded 



companion." If surprised by a dog the Kaka becomes 



" a respectable opponent, for with outstretched wings he 

 throws himself on his back, and defends himself stoutly with 

 bill and claws." 



A very great dissimilarity both in size and colouring occurs 

 in different examples of this species, so much so as to induce 

 a belief, both in my own mind and in that of others, that they 

 may constitute two species. Some of the specimens have the 

 whole of the crown and back of the neck and the outer portion 

 of the wings bluish grey ; others appear to be real Nestors, 

 having very hoary heads ; some have very distinct collars of 

 beautiful fringed feathers at the back of the neck, while in 

 others this feature is more feebly developed. It will be a 

 question for the colonists to determine if there be more than 

 a single species, or if the differences seen in the skins sent to 

 Europe are indications only of local varieties, and to what 

 cause they may be due. 



