474 KAKAPO 
reached England alive. Yet, though much has been written about 
it, there is no detailed description of its internal structure, a fact the 
more to be regretted since the bird is obviously doomed to early 
extinction, and the opportunity of solving several problems of 
interest, which a minute examination of its anatomy might afford, 
will be lost if the matter be not speedily taken in hand. Few 
existing birds offer a better subject for a monographer, and it is to 
be hoped that, if perish the genus and species must, posterity will 
not have to lament the want of an exhaustive treatise on the many 
and wonderful characteristics of what Prof. Fiirbringer considers 
(Journ. fiir Orn. 1889, pp. 239-241) to be one of the primitive 
forms of Psittaci. 
In habits the Kakapo is almost wholly nocturnal,’ hiding 
during the daytime in holes (made in some instances it would 
seem by itself) under the roots of trees or rocks, and only issuing 
forth about sunset to seek for food, which is solely vegetable in 
kind, and consists of the roots, twigs, leaves, seeds, and fruits of 
trees, grasses, or ferns—some observers say mosses also. It some- 
times climbs trees, but generally remains on the ground, only using 
its comparatively short wings to balance itself in running, or to 
break its fall when it drops from a tree—though not always then 
—being apparently quite incapable of real flight. It thus becomes 
an easy prey to the marauders which the colonists have let loose in 
New Zealand, so disastrously for its indigenous inhabitants. Sir 
G. Grey, writing in 1854, said it had been, within the memory of 
old people, abundant in every part of that country ; but was then 
found only in the unsettled districts, and thus little hope can be 
entertained of its surviving much longer. 
The Kakapo is about the size of a Raven, of a green or brownish- 
green colour, thickly freckled and irregularly barred with dark 
brown, and dashed here and there with longitudinal stripes of light 
yellow. Examples are subject to much variation in colour? and 
shade, and in some the lower parts are deeply tinged with yellow. 
Externally the most striking feature of the bird is its head, armed 
with a powerful beak, that it well knows how to use, and its face 
clothed with hairs and elongated feathers that sufficiently resemble 
1 Tt has, however, been occasionally observed abroad by day ; and, in captivity, 
one example at least is said to have been just as active by day as by night. 
2 A specimen in the British Museum (Zool. Voy. ‘ Erebus’ and ‘ Terror,’ pl. 7) 
has the prevailing green tint replaced by blue of several shades, and has been 
described as a distinct species, 8. grey; but it is obviously in an abnormal con- 
dition, and its specific distinctness, though admitted by Count T. Salvadori 
(Cat. B. Br. Mus. xx. p. 601), cannot be maintained without further evidence. 
Sir W. Buller (Zoc. cit.) describes several varieties of the Kakapo, and Mr. Reischek 
states (Z'rans. N. Zeal. Inst. xvii. p. 196) that examples from the high moun- 
tains are larger and brighter in colour than those from the lower grounds. 
