RerscoexK.—On New Zealand Ornithology. 195 
As I have not seen any specimens of Dr. Buller’s Nestor occidentalis nor 
of the Nestor montanus which were previously obtained and described I can 
only depend on my own observations, of which I am positive, and also can 
prove by a series of specimens I have collected of the Nestor meridionalis, 
North Island kaka—adult, half-grown nestlings, and egg—having a similar 
series of the above Nestor and also of Nestor notabilis. 
At first I called this bird Nestor occidentalis according to the description 
Dr. Buller has in his Manual, which is similar, but I do not like to give it 
any name until I am sure that it is one of the previously-named species. I 
only hold by my own observations that in New Zealand there are three 
? and Nestor notabilis, 
species of Nestor—as Nestor meridionalis, Nestor 
7. Stringops habroptilus. Kakapo. 
On my last researches in the sounds I had the opportunity to observe 
minutely the habits and habitat of these birds. They are common in some 
parts of the bush. The young ones are much duller in plumage than their 
parents. When hatched they are covered with white down, which in 
about a month’s time gives place to a fledging of feathers, the down remain- 
ing upon the feathers until the birds are about three months old. In April 
last I found under the root of a red birch, in a burrow, two young kakapos. 
During the same month I found several other young birds of this species. 
So late in the season as the 12th May Mr. Docherty found a kakapo’s nest 
containing a female sitting upon an egg with a chick just hatched. Mr. 
Docherty kindly pointed out the nest which I measured. The burrow had 
an entrance from both sides, and two compartments. Both entrances led 
to the first compartment, the second and deeper chamber being connected 
with the first by a small burrow of about a foot. The nest was in the outer 
compartment, and was guarded by very strong rocks, rendering it difficult to 
open up. The distance from the entrances to the nest were two feet and 
three feet respectively. The first chamber was twenty-four inches by 
eighteen inches, and twelve inches high. The inner compartment was four- 
teen inches by twelve inches, and only six inches high. The nest was 
formed by a deepening, lined with wood dust, ground by the bird as 
fine as sawdust, and feathers, which the female had evidently plucked from 
her own breast, which was quite bare. From my observations I am of 
opinion that the male bird takes no part in the hatching or rearing of the 
chicks, as in all cases the female was the sole attendant from first to last. 
I did not see a male near a breeding burrow, nor did Iin any single instance — 
find two grown-up birds in one burrow, though I have seen them in pairs 
on their nocturnal rambles. Whenever two males meet they fight, the 
death of the weaker sometimes resulting. The female is much the smaller 
(probably about three-fourths the weight), and duller in plumage. These 
bush kakapos are very common in various parts of the Sounds district, 
