2856 The Zoologist — December, 1871. 



the great " snow rivers," as they are termed. This stream, which 

 derives its source from the glaciers which are embedded in the 

 gloomy and secluded fastnesses of the Southern Alps, is periodically 

 swollen by the melting of the snow and by ihe heavy rain from the 

 north-west, which falls during the spring and autumn months: fed 

 by numerous creeks and tributaries from every converging gully, its 

 volume increases ; it rushes noisily and impetuously over its rough 

 boulder bed, till the junction of the Havelock and the Clyde swells 

 its waters into a large river. The leafy rugged mountains which 

 imprison it present almost every conceivable variety of outline; 

 jagged peaks crowned with snow; countless moraines point out 

 where the avalanche and snow-slip have thundered down into the 

 valley below. The river is bordered here and there by grassy flats 

 or hanging woods of timber trees, in which the brown-tinted totara, 

 the silvery Phyllocladus with its purplish points, the small-leaved 

 kohai and the soft bright-foliaged ribbonwood contrast well with 

 the dusky hue of the dark-leaved Fagus ; far above, dwarf vegeta- 

 tion, in all the wonderful variety of alpine shrubs and flowers, 

 struggles up the steepest slopes, adorning the frowning precipice 

 and foaming cascade, lending its aid in forming scenes of pic- 

 turesque and romantic grandeur, in which rich and varying tints of 

 perennial verdure gratify the eyes of the spectator with their beauty. 

 This is the home of the kea. Amongst holes and fissures in almost 

 inaccessible rocks, in a region often shrouded with dense mists or 

 driving sleet, where the north-west wind rages at times with terrific 

 violence — here the green parrot may be observed, entering or leaving 

 crevices in the rocks, or soaring with motionless wings from peak 

 to peak, far above the screaming kaka or the chattering parroquet ; 

 the swift-winged falcon is perhaps the sole intruder in its wild 

 domain. 



At early dawn its peculiar note is heard, very like the mewing 

 of a cat, though in some of the more secluded gullies it may be 

 noticed throughout the day ; it really appears to wake up into 

 activity at dusk, being, to a certain extent, nocturnal in its habits. 

 It is scarcely less gregarious than its congener, N. raeridionalis. 

 In the moonlight nights of winter, numbers have been observed 

 on the ground feeding. It can hardly be deemed an arboreal bird 

 in the strict sense of the term. 



The rigour of a hard winter, when the whole face of the alpine 

 country is changed so as to be scarcely recognizable under a deep 



