PLATE XTjV. 



GENUS STRIGOPS. 



IN differentiating the genus Strigops I do not think I can do better than use the words of that great authority 

 upon the strange avifauna of New Zealand, Sir Walter Lawry Buller : " In the peculiar form which 

 constitutes the unique member of the genus Strigops the bill is broad and powerful ; the upper mandible 

 has a peculiar rasp-like character within, while the lower mandible is deeply fluted on its outer surface, with a 

 worn notched process near the extremity. The plumage is soft but compact, the wings apparently well-developed, 

 but useless for purposes of flight, with the quills much curved or bent ; the tail long and slightly decurved, the 

 feathers composing it acuminate and sometimes with the tips abraded ; the projecting feathers on the cheeks 

 loose, with disunited filaments and shafts much produced ; the legs strong and well formed ; the tarsi covered 

 with elevated rounded scales ; the toes similarly protected in their basal portion, scutellate towards the end ; the 

 claws strong, well arched, sharp on their inner edge, and with fine points." 



STRIGOPS HABRO PTILUS. (Grey.) 



OWL P ABBOT, or KAKAPO. Genus: Strigops. 



WE have here one of the most interesting of known birds, and a worthy example of the avifauna of New 

 Zealand, where all forms of animal life are upon Antipodean lines. It is, therefore, a matter of regret 

 that our limited space prevents us giving the many interesting particulars that are known of the bird. 

 For a full and entertaining account we cannot do better than refer our readers to " Buller's Birds of New 

 Zealand," where full justice is done to this peculiar Parrot. 



The Kakapo is rightly considered " one of the most wonderful, perhaps, of all winged birds," for it unites 

 in itself so many varied characteristics and qualities that the mere enumeration of them is a considerable work. 



The very name Strigops indicates the fact that it bears some resemblance to the Owl, a resemblance 

 which is found in the possession of a facial disk, in the soft texture of its plumage, and in its nocturnal habits ; 

 in all essentials, however, it is a true Parrot. Although a vegetable eater, the Kakapo closely resembles the 

 nocturnal birds of prey in its habits. The wings, though large and strong, are useless for flight ; they are spread 

 out while it is running, apparently for the sake of balance, and are used in the same way to break the force of the 

 bird's fall in descending from a higher to a lower point if suddenly surprised. 



This peculiarity is the more surprising when we find that the muscles of the wings are fairly well 

 developed, though much overlaid with fat. The anomaly can only be explained by the two facts that the bird 

 is a ground feeder, with a voracious appetite (it subsists chiefly on the moss that covers the ground and the roots 

 of fallen trees, which must be sought for on foot, and, having little nutritive property, require to be devoured in 

 enormous quantities, so much so that the birds have been found with their crops so distended and heavy that they 

 were scarcely able to move), and that New Zealand possesses no indigenous predatory animals. Thus it may be 

 assumed that the Kakapo has lost the power of flight from disuse, and the gradual modification of the laws of 

 nature, which, in this instance, has evolved a species entirely different from its Parrot congener. 



The Kakapo was at one time abundant all over the North and South Island ; but at the present day it 

 is so circumscribed in its locality that there is danger of its becoming extinct. In the North Island it is rarely 

 met with, except in the Kai-Manawa Ranges, and the Taupo District. Until within very recent years the 

 Kakapo was abundant in the Urewera Country, where the natives were in the habit of hunting it with dogs and 

 torches. They say it is gregarious, and, when they were plentiful enough to congregate in numbers at night, the 



