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Forty years ago the Kakapo was extremely abundant in the Lake Brunner district, but 

 at the time of Mr. W. W. Smith's visit, in 1888, it had become extremely scarce, betokening 

 the extinction of the bird at no distant date. Mr. Smith says : — 



No more interesting or profitable district could be visited by the botanist or ornithologist in New Zealand 

 than that around the shores of Lake Brunner. The magnificent primeval forest is due to the greater 

 humidity of the lake valley, as compared with many other parts of the West Coast, and to the great depth 

 of vegetable mould, or rich virgin soil, which covered the whole face of the country before the forest 

 spread over it. I have seen most of the great bush-lands of New Zealand, but nowhere can the vegetation 

 of the bush be seen in such profusion and perfection, rivalling in luxuriance the tropical American forests 

 so fully recorded in the admirable notes of Bates on the Amazons and Belt on Nicaragua. Among the 

 rich grove of tree-ferns the Kakapo and the Kiwi have their home. In the saplings of taller growths 

 and among the branches of the towering timber-trees many birds revel and enliven the bush through the 

 day with their rich and varied notes. As evening comes on, the calls of nocturnal and semi-nocturnal 

 species are heard. In the dwarf ferns the Weka moves stealthily about, silently peering into the tent, 

 ready to pick up any bright object and carry it off, to be left and lost in the bush. In the branches of 

 decaying trees the Kaka is busy searching in the bark and leaves for insects, uttering, as it flies from tree 

 to tree, a hoarse discordant scream. The little Owl answers from all directions the call of ' Morepork.' 

 The croaking of the Kakapo among the ferns and lower branches, busily consuming the leaves, and the 

 shrill night-cry of the Kiwi, are the only sounds which disturb the serene silence of the forest. . . . 

 Being nocturnal in their habits, the Kakapos emerge from their hiding-places in the evening to feed, 

 and climb among the lower branches, consuming the soft vegetation. When several are feeding together 

 they continue throughout the night to answer each other's calls, or hoarse mutterings, uttered while 

 masticating their food. On very dark nights it is pleasing to steal as near them as possible and listen 

 to their nibbling at the tender leaves, while they croak and mutter continuously. By the morning their 

 crops are enlarged to their full extent with the nutritious green food consumed during the night. 

 On moonlight nights their sight is clearer, and they take advantage of this to roam farther from their 

 hiding-places to feed. On the outskirts of the bush several may be seen together waddling leisurely along 

 towards some favourite feeding-ground, returning, when their hunger is appeased, to their usual hiding- 

 place. The latter is generally in or about the decayed roots of old trees, or hollow prostrate timber. It 

 is sometimes easy to find their homes by the presence of little trodden paths leading to them. 



Mr. Kichard Henry writes in his ' Habits of Flightless Birds ' (p. 20) : " The Kakapo 

 makes her nest on the ground in some of the mossy glens and bays, and lays from two to 

 four white eggs, like those of the Harrier-hawk. I never found two birds in the one glen at 

 any season, though there is room for a dozen, and I think that the male never goes near 

 a nest and knows nothing about it." 



Mr. Elsdon Best, in his interesting notes on 'Forest Lore' (published in the Lyttelton Times), 

 gives the following Maori story: — 



The Kakapo (now extinct in Tuhoeland) was hunted with dogs at night. l Kakara ' were tied round 

 the necks of the dogs in order to acquaint the hunters with their whereabouts. These ' kakara ' consisted 

 of four or six flat pieces of whalebone, about four inches long, and fastened on a string. The call for the 

 Kakapo was given by placing the hand to the side of the mouth. According to Major Mair, this Kakara 

 appears to be termed Tatara among the Wanganui tribes, and Eore among the Ngati-Maniapoto. (See 

 'Trans. N.Z. Inst.,' vol. xxviii., p. 347.) 



A most singular circumstance in connection with the Kakapo and its doings is the custom, cere- 

 mony, or amusement of the Whawharua. As is commonly known, the Kakapo is a night bird, and 

 during the day it remains concealed in rugged and precipitous places. At night, however, the birds 

 come forth and collect at their Whawharua, which is a common meeting place or playground for all birds 

 which belong to that peculiar tribe or Whawharua. Having collected, every bird, with one exception, goes 

 through a strange performance, by beating its wings on the ground and uttering its weird cry, at the 



