194 Transactions.—Zb ology. 
away, and now people are living at the Marble Quarry. The only difference 
between male and female is the slightly smaller size of the latter. I have 
found an insect similar to the Membranacea inside the edges of the bill, 
which adhered so firmly that they parted in two on my trying to get them 
off. Eventually I had to poison them to succeed. 
5. Eudyptula minor. Blue Penguin. 
This little bird is not so common in the sounds. I have only found 
them in pairs, and they differ slightly in their habits from the larger 
variety. I have found their nests, which are better built, nearer the shore, 
and as far back as a mile in the bush; and in one instance in a burrow 
19 feet long. Coming ashore in September, the male brings the sticks, 
leaves, ete., for the female to build, generally in a burrow under the roots of 
trees. Both are together in the day-time in their burrows, when they make 
& noise like a kitten ; in the night they build their nest, and towards the 
end of September two white roundish eggs are laid, which are reared by 
both parents, and protected from any intruder, whom they pluckily attack. 
In the beginning of November, I have seen young birds covered with slight 
down, dark grey on the top of the head and the back, white on the throat, 
breast, and abdomen. The female is considerably smaller than the male. 
In the end of February and March, they leave the shore with their parents 
for their unfriendly element, where they are as active, but not so powerful 
of endurance as the larger species, as I have found many of them driven 
ashore after a severe gale, dead. Their food is fish and Crustacea. These 
birds are distributed over the North. South, and surrounding Islands of 
New Zealand, and where they are not disturbed they are very plentiful, 
especially on the Motutiri and Taranga Islands, Hauraki Gulf. Their 
enemies are the domestic dog and eat run wild. 
6. Nestor, sp. Kaka. 
This bird represents Nestor meridionalis in the sounds, but is not very 
plentiful. I have found them alone and in pairs or with their young, from 
two to four. They breed in hollow trees. The nest consists of a deepen- 
ing lined with wood-dust and feathers out of the parent birds. They lay 
their eggs from beginning of March till April. Male and female hatch and 
rear the young birds together; in August the young birds are fullgrown. 
This bird is not so gregarious as his ally meridionalis, also different in 
plumage and construction of the skeleton and habits; the ery and whistle 
is shriller ; the male is fiery red under the wings, the female golden yellow 
and a little smaller. These birds are very bold. On the 18th April, 1884, I 
found in a hollow tree a female with one egg and three young birds, which 
she pluckily defended by biting and scratching. At the cry of the female 
the male came swooping several times past my head. This species is the 
finest of the three existing species of Nestor, 
