PARROTS. 55 



less deliberate, but always slow. Most of them are shy and distrustful, owing no doubt to the 

 manifold persecutions from which they suffer, and it is only during feeding-time that they are less 

 upon the watch. They are much attached to their companions, and should one of them be killed 

 or wounded, the hapless individual is seldom deserted by the others, who generally fly about him, 

 uttering a wailing cry, and expose themselves so recklessly to the hunter, that he, knowing how to 

 avail himself of this habit, often succeeds in capturing the whole flock. 



v 

 THE KAKAPO, OR NIGHT-PARROT OF NEW ZEALAND. 



For the same reason that the Owls and the Falcons are grouped as distinct families, we shall 

 consider the Kakapo, or Night-parrot of New Zealand (Strigops habroptilus) as the type of a 

 peculiar race. This bird, indeed, reminds us so forcibly of the Owls, that were it not for the 

 structure of the foot, we should decidedly class it as one of them. Its scientific name of " owl-faced " 

 (Strigops) is very well chosen. The large body of this species is covered with soft, delicate feathers, 

 which form a rudimentary veil about the face ; the wings are short and trough-shaped ; the tail long 

 and rounded; the beak long, bent like that of an owl, and nearly covered with stiff, bristle-like 

 feathers ; the feet are of middle size, the toes long. The general colour is a dark green, interspersed 

 with tolerably regular stripes, and some irregular yellow spots ; upon the breast the colour is lighter 

 and yellower than on the back, and the stripes are indistinct ; the green tail is banded with dark 

 brown. The habitat of the Kakapo is restricted to New Zealand, and the species is now found in 

 tolerable abundance only in the most remote Alpine valleys of the southern island. It has been 

 nearly exterminated in the northern portion. Lyall and Haast have given us full particulars of its 

 habits. " The Kakapo," says the first of these writers, " is still found occasionally in the northern 

 districts of New Zealand, frequenting the dry cliffs or the low grounds near the banks of the rivers, 

 where the high trees and woods are, to some extent, free from ferns and brushwood. The first time 

 we met with it was upon some hills, rising 4,000 feet above the level of the sea ; but we afterwards 

 found it living with others of the same species, on open spots near the mouth of the river, and not 

 far from the coast." " Most striking," adds Haast, " is the fact that the Kakapo (except in the valley 

 of the Makavora, formed by the Lake Wanaka) is never seen east of the mountains, although forests 

 abound there ; apparently the absence of woodland in the intervening district is an obstacle to its 

 farther progress in that direction. These birds are less numerous in the Wilkin valley, where I have 

 observed traces of the wild dog ; in the valley of the Hunter, which is only separated from these 

 districts by a chain of not very high mountains and some inconsiderable hills, no trace of them is to 

 be found, although the fine beech forests offer them a favourable retreat." " In such places," says 

 Lyall, " the tracks of the Kakapo were visible ; these are about a foot wide, very regularly worn, and 

 often resemble in so striking a manner those made by men, that at first we really believed that the 

 natives must have been in the neighbourhood. The Kakapo lives in holes under the roots of trees, 

 and in the cavities of overhanging rocks." 



Lyall tells us that the holes he saw had two openings, and the trees above them were for some 

 distance hollow. The Kakapo, he says, was not visible by day, except when driven from its 

 retreat ; and he was never able to find it but with the help of dogs. When these birds were more 

 plentiful, the natives used to catch them at night by torch-light. There is a breed of half-wild 

 dogs in the northern part of this island continually hunting the Kakapos, which, indeed, they have 

 almost exterminated. It is said that the spread of these dogs is arrested by a river; but it is to be feared 

 that so soon as they succeed in crossing that barrier, the total extinction of these birds will ensue ; 

 for although they use their beak and claws very energetically, and can make a powerful resistance, 

 still, sooner or later, they must succumb to their four-footed enemy, and ultimately share the fate of the 



