KA-KAS. 



127 



the list being two specimens .purchased in 1891. It 

 reached the Amsterdam: Gardens in 1852, and those of 

 Berlin in 1863, since when it has come to hand from, 

 time to time. 



VARIEGATED TOURACOU (Schizorhis africana). 



Above with back of neck, mantle, and wing-coverts 

 ashy-grey, 'the feathers mostly with dark brown shaft- 

 stripes expanding into subterminal spots ; bastard wing, 

 outer greater coverts, and flights black ; primaries with 

 their inner webs largely white towards base; back and 

 upper tail-coverts browner than mantle, with dark 

 brown shaft-stripes ; tail black, passing into ashy-brown 

 on greater part of central feathers and towards base of 

 approximate feathers ; head, including chin and throat, 

 dark brown mottled with white on front of crown and 

 sides ; crest- feathers v/ith narrow white edges ; feathers 

 at back of throat white-edged ; remainder of under parts 

 white with narrow dark brown shaft-stripes; bill yel- 

 low; feet and irides dark brown. Female slightly 

 eimaller, and' doubtless with broader bill. Hab., " West 

 Africa, from the Niger to Senegambia, and inland to 

 Stanley Pool on the Congo." (Shelley.) 



Captain B. Alexander says (The Ibis, 1902, p. 362) : 

 " This species inhabits open, tree-grown country, and 

 is generally found in pairs. It always selects the top- 

 most boughs of a tree on which to alight." 



The London Zoological Society first secured this bird 

 in 1863, in 1866 they purchased a second, and in 1873 

 they received two in exchange. Russ does not say 

 whether it has appeared in any of the Continental gar- 

 dens, but observes, " It rarely comes into our market." 



This brings mie to the end of the Picarian birds, next 

 to which we have to consider the popular Psittacine 

 forms; not that I personally take especial delight in 

 them on the contrary, I would rather take up the 

 study of almost any other group of cage-birds; they 

 are such risky creatures to handle, and in many cases 

 so treacherous and' vindictive that they do not appeal 

 to me. Of course, there are exceptions, and for their 

 sake I would not condemn the whole order; besides, 

 even if the gaudy colouring of Parrots is sometimes in- 

 artistic and even vulgar, the capacity which many 

 possess of learning to talk renders them amusing pets. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ORDER 1ILPSITTACL 



These birds are generally admitted to be allied to 

 the Birds of Prey, to which the great, strongly-hooked 

 upper mandible and basal cere give them some resem- 

 blance ; certainly the taste which the Kea has acquired 

 for fat torn from the kidneys of living sheep seems to 

 point to a predatory instinct inherited from some Hawk- 

 like ancestor. I remember my friend Mr. F. W. 

 Frohawk, who possessed one of these birds for a con- 

 siderable time, saying that it seemed more like a 

 Buzzard than a Parrot. In their scansorial habits, 

 zygodactyle feet, usually arboreal life, and gaudy 

 colours, their habit of nesting in holes and laying 

 white eggs, they seem to show relationship to some of 

 the Picarian groups, while the dilatation of the oeso- 

 phagus, which secretes a milky fluid, reminds one of 

 the Columbce. The highly-developed brain, which led 

 some naturalists to regard them as having a claim to 

 be placed at the head of the birds, the large, fleshy 



tongue and the conformation of the larynx, which 

 render mimicry of the human voice and many other 

 sounds easy to these birds and the movable upper 

 mandible, represent a combination of characters dis- 

 tinguishing the Parrots from all other orders. If you 

 soften a Pariot's skull and raise the upper mandible, 

 you will see a beautiful mechanism at work a sort of 

 piston-rod moving backwards and forwards in relation 

 to the position of the mandible. 



Most of the species lay in holes in trees, very few 

 making any nest; the eggs are white, like those of 

 Doves ; the young are born naked, and are fed from the 

 crop. 



Count Salvador! divides the Parrots into six families : 



1. Nestoridce, represented by the Ka-ka Parrots, very 

 ugly and rarely imported birds, with long and fairly 

 slender beaks ; the family consists of one genus, and is 

 confined to the New Zealand sub-region. 



2. Loriidce, including the Lories and Lorikeets, occur- 

 ring in Australia and Polynesia. 



3. Cyclopsittacidce, a group of Lorikeets confined to 

 the Austro-Malayan sub-region. 



4. Cacatuidce, or Cockatoos and Cockatiels, extending 

 over the Australian region and the Philippine Islands. 



5. Psittacidce, occurring over a very extensive area 

 both of the Old and New Worlds, and including the 

 Macaws, Conures, Parrakeets, true Parrots, and Love- 

 birds. 



6. Stringopidce, containing the singular Night Parrot 

 of New Zealand. 



In captivity the parrots require different treatment 

 according to the group to which they belong ; their food 

 in a wild state differs so greatly that to attempt to 

 provide a general food for the whole Order is just as 

 hopelessly absurd as it would be to make up a mixture 

 for the universal diet of the whole of the Mammalia. 

 In these birds, therefore, I 'shall deal with the question 

 of food under each group separately. 



KA=KAS (Nestvridv). 



In these birds the beak is long and comparatively 

 slender with grooved culmen, the hook almost smooth 

 below or very slightly ridged longitudinally ; the lower 

 mandible extended, without the usual angle or abrupt 

 curve, but with an almost straight curvature towards 

 the tip ; tongue fringed. 



The sexes differ in the size and outline of their beaks. 



In captivity these birds should be fed, according to 

 Frohawk, upon carrots, swedes, potato, any kind of 

 fruit, dog-biscuit, nuts, 'bones, either raw or cooked 

 (which it greatly enjoyed) ; " it also caught, skinned, 

 and ate mice; in fact, anything seemed to suit it." 



KEA OR MOUNTAIN KA-KA (Nestor notabilis). 



Dull olive-green with black edges to the feathers; 

 flights dusky -brown ; outer web of primaries bluish; 

 inner web dentated with lemon-yellow; outer web of 

 secondaries greenish-bine, inner web dentated with 

 orange-red; rump and upper wing-coverte washed to- 

 wards tips with orange-red ; tail bluish-olive, belted near 

 extremity with blackish-brown ; inner webs of feathers 

 dentated with bright lemon-yellow ; ear-coverts dusky ; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries orange-red; bill 

 grey ish -brown ; feet yellowish-olive; irides black. 

 Female duller and with broader dusky borders to the 

 feathers. Hab., South Island, New Zealand. 



This species was discovered in 1856 by Mr. Walter 

 Mantell in the higher mountain ranges of the South 

 Island. In its wild state it feeds upon fruits, seeds, and 



