THE OWL PARROT 1901 



orange on the forehead, and the feathers of the crown and nape marked with a 

 broad median streak of black. The remainder of the body plumage is mottled 

 with irregular bands of black and yellow; the quills are brown, greenish outwardly, 

 and marked with a yellow spot, and the bars on the tail feathers are alternately 

 green and yellow. 



The ' ' Old Bushman ' ' writes that the swamp parraquet ' ' lives on the ground 

 (but I have seen them perch on the tea-tree scrub), runs much and quickly, is hard 

 to rise, flies in jerks, goes away very sharp before a wind, and is very pretty shoot- 

 ing, rising from the grass and heather. We used to find them during the whole 

 year, frequenting different localities at different times, and although they could 

 scarcely be said to flock, I generally rose three or four on the same spot. Dogs 

 will set them like quail." They generally frequent sandy tracts covered with 

 sparse grass and other herbage, and are but rarely seen in the neighborhood of 

 trees. The eggs are laid on the bare ground, and are brooded by both sexes in 

 turn. The short-tailed ground parraquet of the south and southwest of Australia 

 differs by the tail being shorter than the wings, and the short and curved claws, as 

 well as in coloration. It is essentially a nocturnal bird, spending the day in 

 holes in the ground, and only issuing forth at sunset to wander abroad in search of 

 food. A specimen in the London Zoological Gardens remained quiet and drowsy 

 during the daytime, and only became lively and inclined to feed toward evening. 

 It never attempted to perch, always remaining on the floor of its cage. Its cry was 

 a sharp monotonous whistle; and its food consisted of corn and young shoots of 

 grass. The flesh of both species of ground parraquets is said to -be delicate and 

 well flavored. 



THE OWL PARROT 

 Family STRINGOPID^ 



From the practical absence in those islands of indigenous mammalian life, many 

 of the birds of New Zealand have more or less completely lost the power of flight, 

 owing to the disuse of their wings, and among these flightless species is a very re- 

 markable member of the present order the owl parrot, or kakapo (String op s hab- 

 roptilus} , which is not only the representative of a distinct genus but likewise of a 

 separate family. This bird is distinguished from the other members of the order by 

 the rudimentary condition of the keel of the breastbone or sternum, and likewise by 

 the radiating disc of feathers around the eye, which communicates the characteristic 

 owl-like appearance to the head. The beak is thick and swollen on the sides, with 

 no notch, and the nostrils open in a much inflated cere. The wings are short and 

 rounded, with the fourth, fifth, and sometimes the sixth primaries the longest, and 

 the tail is also comparatively short, with its extremity rounded, but the individual 

 feathers pointed. The metatarsus is somewhat elongated, the nails moderately long, 

 and the whole plumage rather soft. 



