NESTOR MERIDIONALIS, var. 



(The Kaka.) 



fidXiara 8e Nearopt 6t&) 

 Ei86? T€, fj,eje66<i re, (f>vr]VT', djx^o-Ta iwKei,. — Homer. 



This New- Zealand Parrot runs into so many varieties that the specimen here 

 given may assist in forming an opinion as to the propriety of retaining the 

 other various scansorial forms (^Nestor sitperbus, N. esslingii, &c.) as specifically 

 distinct. The example so well figured by Mr. Keulemans appears to come 

 nearest to variety e of Dr. Buller, who has well enumerated and described 

 the several plumages. At first I had some doubt as to the species ; but it 

 clearly is of the Nestor family : if not Nestor himself without his aged head, 

 he must be Thrasymedes. I received it in 1874 direct from New Zealand, 

 where it had been kept in captivity at Wellington, North Island. It was 

 represented to me as being very tame and wdth considerable powers of 

 speech, restless, and as active at night as in the daytime. The call was said 

 to be shrill. I consider this to be an illustration of albinism. The feet and 

 legs, which are usually black, are here white. 



Albinism and melanism are things requiring investigation. The ' Times ' 

 of January 19, 1874, quoting the ' Graphic,' gives some interesting obser- 

 vations from M. Milne-Edwards. This "well-known Parisian naturahst has 

 been studying melanism, or the influence of climate in producing black hue 

 in the plumage of birds. He observes that the quantity of black in their 



