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This species subsists chiefly on small fruits and berries. I have sometimes found its crop 

 distended with the ripe pulpy seed of the tataramoa (Rubus ausf rails), or with the berries of the 

 kaiwiria (Parsonia albiflora) ; and it is said to feed also on the leaves of the thistle and wild 

 cabbage. 



Its wings are small and rounded, and its flight is consequently feeble and generally limited 

 to very short distances. Its progression through the forest is usually performed by a succession 

 of hops, the wings and tail being partially spread — a movement precisely similar to that of the 

 Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) already described. 



In disposition the Kokako appears to inherit the characteristics of the Crow family, being 

 very shy and crafty. I purchased a live one from the Otaki natives in the winter of 1862, and as 

 it shared my apartments for nearly a week (much to the discomfiture of my excellent landlady), 

 I had a good opportunity of studying its habits and character. I was often much amused with 

 the tricky manoeuvres of this sprightly bird, and I regretted the accident which deprived me of so 

 intelligent a companion. It generally remained concealed under a side-table in a dark corner of 

 the room ; but in cold weather was accustomed to steal quietly to the inside of the fender, in 

 order to get warmth from the fire. My presence had become familiar to it, but on the entrance 

 of a stranger it would immediately spring out and hop away to its dark retreat under the corner 

 table. 



Nothing is yet positively known of the breeding-habits of this species. A young settler, 

 who, in addition to being a son of the soil, was well skilled in all bush-craft, assured me that he 

 once met with a Kokako's nest fixed in a mass of kareao vines (Rhipogonum scandens), and he 

 described it as being of very large size and composed of moss and dry twigs — such a nest, indeed, 

 as we should naturally expect to find tenanted by a bird of this family. A Maori at Wellington 

 described the nest to me in similar terms, with the further information that the Kokako lays 

 a single egg, and after hatching it, leaves its offspring to the care of the Popokatea [Ortlionyx 

 albicilla) ! He stated this as a verity, declaring that he had himself witnessed this little bird 

 feeding the young Kokako ; and while unable, at present, to accept so new a fact in natural 

 history, I am bound to admit that the accounts which my informant gave me of the breeding-habits 

 of the Warauroa (Chrysococcyx lucidus) and other birds about which I questioned him were 

 perfectly correct. 



