153 



and the diagnostic characters by which it is distinguished from G. cinerea are the broWnish-olive 

 colour of the back, wings, and tail, the greyish olive of the underparts, its greater size, and the " dusky 

 colour of the mouth-caruncles/' As I have already shown, this description applies to the young of G. 

 wilsoni. The dusky colour of the wattles is of no value as a specific character, because, as already men- 

 tioned, these appendages entirely change colour in dried specimens, leaving no trace of the original 

 blue. Even in the living bird the colour of the wattles varies considerably in its tone, according to age 

 and other physical conditions ; and Dr. Hector has observed that when in confinement its wattles 

 undergo remarkable variations, the exterior margin sometimes assuming a decided yellowish tinge, and 

 again changing back into blue. Dr. Hector writes me that of three specimens caught together, and 

 carefully scxed by him, two with olive-brown backs and very small wattles proved to be males, while 

 the third, which had large wattles, of a deep blue colour, and only a slight tinge of brown on the upper 

 parts, was unmistakably a female ; and he expresses his belief that Glaucopis olivascens is the male 

 of G. wilsoni. Accepting the result of Dr. Hector's dissection as conclusive evidence of the sex in each 

 case, I should be inclined to pronounce his two brown-backed males birds of the first year, and the 

 female an adult in full breeding-plumage. I may add that the bird from which my description of the 

 adult male is taken was shot in company with two others (an adult female and a young male), all of 

 which were carefully sexed by myself. 



This singular representative of the Crow family is sparingly dispersed over the North Island, 

 being very local in its distribution. It is met with more frequently in the wooded hills than in 

 the low-timbered bottoms, but its range is too eccentric to be defined with any precision. 

 During many years' residence at Kaipara, north of Auckland, I never obtained more than five 

 specimens, all of which were shot in the low-wooded spurs of the Tangihua ranges. In particular 

 localities, however, even further north, it is comparatively plentiful : for example, between the 



Wair 



Whansrarei 



was, till within the last few years, rather abundant. I have heard of its occurrence in various 

 parts of the Waikato district*, and in certain localities in the Hawke's Bay and Wellington 

 Provinces it is far from being an uncommon species. 



The Kokako is adorned with fleshy wattles of a brilliant blue colour, which spring from the 



an 



; of the mouth, and when the bird is in motion they are compressed under the chin. The 

 first specimen obtained from the Tangihua ranges was a fine bird in full plumage ; but the Maori 

 who brought it had torn off the beautiful wattles and pasted them, by way of ornament, on his 



dusky cheeks. 



The notes of the male are loud and varied ; but the most noticeable one is a long-drawn 



organ-note of surpassing depth and richness. I have not been able to discover whether the female 

 is similarly endowed, but I have often heard two or more Kokakos, each in a different key, 

 sounding forth these rich organ-notes with rapturous eff'ect ; and it is well worth a night's discom- 

 fort in the bush to be awakened at dawn by this rare forest music. Another of its notes may be 

 described as a loud cackle, while others, again, are scarcely distinguishable from those of the Tui, 

 resembling the soft tolling of a distant bell ; but it is only in the early morning that they can be 

 heard to perfection. 



The Maoris state that it is common at Taupo and at Maungatautari, one of those whom I questioned on the subject 

 observing, ** Where the range of the Huia ceases, that of the Kokako begins." 





