AND OTHER BIRDS 75 



Like young Pigeons, Kaka nestlings are pro- 

 bably extremely hardy and easy to rear, and the 

 collection of their food a matter of no trouble 

 to their parents. It is probably taken in large 

 quantity, at long intervals ; at any rate, they are 

 able to endure fasting without complaint, for 

 many hours. Only once, and then from a dis- 

 tance, did I see them fed, the male bird seeming 

 to jerk into the cavern, what appeared to be one 

 of the great grey grubs so common in the rotten 

 timber of our New Zealand forests. Another 

 time I noticed a parent bird high on the tree 

 tops carrying in its bill what again appeared to 

 be a wood grub. 



The greater part of two days was spent by the 

 three of us in the erection of a stage, and during 

 intervals when we ceased work, in order not to 

 alarm the birds too much, I used to watch the 

 nest tree from a distance. On one or two 

 occasions the chicks were visited, as I could 

 learn by their cry of recognition and welcome, 

 but they were neither then, nor at any other time 

 in my presence, fed ; and neither then nor at any 

 other time did I hear that appeal which, from 

 whatever breed, is unmistakably the call of 

 hunger. The chicks were able comfortably to 

 endure long fasts, and were probably gorged at 

 dusk and dawn. 



The stage built on this occasion was of the 

 most substantial proportions. The uprights were 

 young pine trees lopped of their tops, the cross 

 pieces straight kamahi limbs ; whilst tree ferns, 

 as usual, composed the floor. Many twenty-five 

 and thirty feet rimu saplings were raised 

 on to the finished stage by the gigantic 

 Hans, their butts passed downwards between 



