I 



24 



Upper Eangitata Flat. The intelligent captor signalized his good fortune by chopping off the 

 head of his victim with the ever-ready axe. The look of satisfied triumph, as the bird was pointed 

 at, we have never seen equalled, except, perhaps, on one occasion, when a friend, fresh from town, 

 entered the house with the mangled remains of a tame Kaka, which he had blown almost to 

 pieces in a kowhai tree, from whence poor Bess had unfortunately studied the stranger's face too 

 closely. A Whekau entered a shepherd's abode at the foot of Mount Hutt, and remained for 

 several days perching in the roof; and on one occasion it seized a mouse which a cat had just 

 brought in. Another visitor of this species remained in a station on the Eangitata for some 

 weeks. Last year (1869) a fine light-coloured specimen was obtained at the Point Station, 

 Malvern Hills. When killed it was perched on the rail-fence not many yards distant from the 

 house. Of the examples in the Canterbury Museum, one was procured from the Kakahu Bush, 

 near Arowhenua ; and the other, killed at the Levels Station, as before stated, was presented to 

 the Museum by Mr. Donald McLean. Mr. G. Dobson states that the Waimatemate natives 

 iescribe this Owl as living in holes in the rocks. They call it Kakaha; and they say that 

 it is as large as a Pigeon, with a light breast, — that it has a wide mouth, comes out at night 

 only, and flies without any noise. Dr. Haast states that, one night in 1861, when camping on 

 the Upper Eangitata under Mt. Potts, judging from the noise, there must have been many 

 of these birds flying about, and that he and his party were kept awake for several hours by 

 their shrieking clamour. In May 1857, while living in a tent on the Upper Ashburton, we 

 were constantly disturbed at night by their doleful yells amongst the rocky mountain-gullies. 

 When disturbed on the ground, it bursts forth its weird-like cry immediately after taking 

 wing. Its robust form, thickly clothed with soft feathers, is admirably adapted for encountering 

 the severities of climate to which it must be frequently exposed whilst scouring its wild hunting- 

 grounds. Far less arboreal than its smaller congener, it roams over the bleakest tracts of country 

 in many districts where bush of any extent is rarely to be met with, finding shelter among the 

 numerous crevices in the rocks of rugged mountain-gullies. Being strictly nocturnal in its habits 

 in pursuit of its prey, it must brave the icy blast of the alpine snowstorm at the lowest tempera- 

 ture. The severity of the climate in these elevated regions would scarcely be credited by those 

 who have only known the mildness of the coast-line. As may be inferred, the real home of this 

 hardy raptorial bird is amongst the fastnesses of the Southern Alps, from whence it makes casual 

 excursions by the numerous river-beds to the lower-lying grounds, these occasional visits extending 

 as far as the plains. Although well known from its cry, not many specimens have been obtained." 



Dr. Haast now believes that the large Owl captured by his dog amongst the rocky precipices 

 in a creek near the Lindis Pass, and noticed by me, on his authority, under the provisional name 

 of Strix haasti^^ was in reality a bird of the present species. Captain Hutton also writes inform- 

 ing me that this is the Owl referred to in the following passage, in his account of the Birds of the 

 Little-Barrier Island f: — "Another bird also lives on the island, apparently in the cliffs, and comes 

 out only in the evenings. Its cry is a peculiar kind of laugh in a descending scale, and is very 

 ridiculous to hear. I saw it twice by the light of the fire." Mr. Enys informs me that it has 



* Essay on New-Zealand Ornithology, 1867. 



t Transactions of the New- Zeal and Institute, vol i. p. 162, 1868. 







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