BuLLEE. — OrnithoJofpj of New Zealmid. 223 



Very beautiful varieties of tlie kaka are sometimes met with. "We have 

 seen one with the whole of the plumage of brilliant scarlet shaded with 

 brown, another of uniform pale yellow, and a third with green metallic 

 reflections on all the upper parts. Pure albinos also are of occasional 

 occurrence. These varieties are distinguished by the natives as kakakura 

 kakakereru, and kakakorako, and are in high demand among them. 



Like most parrots, it is a long-lived bird. One in the possession of the 

 Upper "Wanganui tribes has been chained to its pole for nearly twenty years, 

 and presents the curious feature of its overgr.own mandibles completely 

 crossing each other ! This is probably attributable to the fact of its having 

 been constantly fed w^ith soft food, thereby depriving the bill of its wear-and- 

 tear incident to a state of nature. 



The remarkable genus StrigoiJS, or night parrot, is strictly a IN'ew Zealand 

 one. Besides the well-known species Strigops liahroptiliis (kakapo), there 

 probably exists another " characterized by the light blue colour on the sides 

 and tip of each plume, in the place of yellowish green ; also by the plumes 

 being white instead of yellow, and by their being more numerously banded 

 with black." Mr. Glray, from whose remarks we quote, proposes that, if 

 hereafter proved to be distinct, the new species be named Strigops greyi, in 

 honour of Sir George G-rey, the Governor of this colony, who presented to 

 the British Museum the specimen from which this description is taken. 



A highly interesting paper on the structure and habits of the kakapo 

 was read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, in June, 1863, 

 by Dr. Julius Haast, who, during his explorations on the West Coast of the 

 South Island, where this bird is still comparatively plentiful, had ample 

 opportunity for investigating the subject. The observations which he has 

 so carefully and minutely recorded are a valuable contribution to science, 

 for there can be little doubt that, as colonization spreads into the kakapo 

 country, this species, like many others, will rapidly disappear. Birds pos- 

 sessing so feeble a development of wing as to be unable to fly, cannot, in the 

 struggle for existence, long withstand the oppression of men and their 

 domestic attendants, dogs and cats. The introduced rat (which has multi- 

 plied to a prodigious extent, and has almost exterminated the indigenous 

 one) contributes also to the extinction of these races by preying on their 

 eggs and young. 



yellow. Under surface of tail-featliers pale scarlet for two-thirds of their extent, and 

 banded on their inner vane with brighter, ashy beyond, and yellowish towards the tip. 

 Bill and legs dark bluish gray. Extreme length, 20 inches ; wing from flexure, llj ; tail, 

 7i ; rictus, 2^ ; tarsus, 1 ; longest toe and claw, ;2f . This extremely rare and beautiful 

 parrot is an inhabitant of the alpine heights of the South Island. Several specimens 

 have been obtained, one of which has recently been deposited in the Canterbury Museum 

 by Alfred Cox, Esq. 



