318 NATURAL HISTORY. 



coming day when far from its abode, but that it left its retreat voluntarily during daylight. The 

 second instance I shall mention is more striking, and shows that the Kakapo feeds also during the 

 day. It was towards evening, but still broad daylight, when we passed along the hill-side near a deep 

 rocky gorge, and saw a large Kakapo sitting on a low fuchsia-tree, about ten feet from the ground, 

 feeding on the berries. When close to it, the bird saw us, and instantly dropped down as if shot, and 

 disappeared amongst the huge fragments of rocks strewed along the hill-side. But the most 

 remarkable circumstance was, that the frightened bird did not open its wings to break its fall, 

 but dropped as if it did not possess any wings at all. In order to see whether they would fly, or even 

 flutter, when pursued by an enemy, I placed on the ground a full-grown specimen, which had been 

 caught by the dog without being hurt. It was on a large shingle-bed, so that the bird had ample 

 room for running or rising on the wing, if for this purpose it wanted space. I was not a little 

 astonished to observe that it only started running towards the nearest point of the forest, where a 

 dark shadow was apparent, and it went quicker than I had anticipated, considering the position of its 

 toes and its clumsy figure, its gait resembling closely that of a Gallinaceous bird in its movements. As 

 I was standing sideways to it, I thought that it kept its wings closed upon its body, so little were they 

 opened ; but my companion, who was equally anxious to see how our prisoner would try to escape, 

 and who stood a little behind it, observed that it opened its wings slightly, but without flapping them 

 in any degree, using them apparently more for keeping its balance than for accelerating its move- 

 ments. This would almost lead to the conclusion that the Kakapo does not travel far, especially as I 

 have already shown that its whole structure is ill adapted for running. But having myself frequently 

 followed its tracks, and found them to extend a great distance over the sandy reaches along the river, 

 such a conclusion as that suggested above would be erroneous. It must be exceedingly fond of water, 

 because in many localities its tracks were observed for half a mile over shingle and sand to the banks 

 of the river : and I am unable to explain the curious fact, iinless the object be to mix river water 

 with the enormous mass of pulpy vegetable matter which is to be found in its crop. With the 

 exception of two specimens, the crops of which were filled with the large berries of a small-leaved 

 Coriaria, by which their flesh was flavoured, all the birds examined by me had their crops widely 

 distended by a mass of finely-comminuted vegetable mosses, weighing many ounces. 



" I carefully examined the subterranean abode of this bird. From the account given by the natives, 

 I thought that it would be found living in well-excavated holes, resembling in their construction those 

 of the Fox or Badger ; that the entrance would be so small as to enable only the inhabitants to enter, 

 and thus to exclude larger animals from persecuting it. This, however, is not the case ; because, with 

 one exception, all the specimens obtained were either in fissures amongst rocks, or in. cavities formed 

 by huge blocks tumbled one over another, and overgrown with moss, or in holes formed by the roots 

 of decayed trees. The cavities in the rocks were generally sufficiently large to allow of my dog, a good- 

 sized Retriever, freely entering them. The openings to the other holes were smaller, and it was some- 

 times necessary to cut away a few roots at the entrance. Inside, the cavity was invariably of very large 

 size, because we could plainly hear the dog advancing several yards before commencing his scuffle with 

 the occupant ; and on returning with the bird in his mouth, he always emerged head foremost, thus 

 proving that the chamber was large enough to enable him to turn himself round. Before he had 

 become accustomed to the work, the dog was often punished severely by the bird's powerful beak and 

 claws ; but he ultimately became quite an expert, always seizing his prey by the head and crushing 

 the skull. 



" The holes or abodes of the Kakapo were not only on the mountain sides, but also on the flats 

 near the river banks which are liable to be overflowed. There can be no doubt that when a sudden 

 inundation takes place the bird can save itself upon a bush or neighbouring tree. I do not think, 

 however, that it can climb the boles of standing trees, because it never resorted to them during the 

 night or when persecuted by the dog except in one single case, when the bird ascended a leaning 

 tree close to our camp, and remained till the dog had given lip the attempt to obtain it. But, not- 

 withstanding that almost all the abodes that came under examination were natural cavities, I met with 

 one hole that seemed to have been regularly mined. On the northern bank of the river Haast, just 

 below the junction of the river Clarke, a large flat occurs, formed by deposits of sand, over which a 

 thin layer of vegetable mould is spread, and on which a luxuriant vegetation has ^prung up. The 



