colours, a greenish metallic hue, and under the wings red, yellow 
and blue. A fourth species, N. productus, is known to exist on 
Philip’s Island, a small isle near Norfolk Island in the North of 
New Zealand. The several Platycerus species, Kakariki of the 
Maoris, arc parrots with brilliant colours in green, blue and red. 
A perfectly anomalous form, on the other hand, is the yellowish- 
green owl- or night-parrot, Kakapo of the natives ( Strigaps hab- 
roptilus). It lives in crevices of the ground under tree-roots or in 
rocks and comes out only at night to pick the berries of the Tutu 
shrub ( Corictria sarmentosaj and to grub fern-roots. Although it 
can fly, it seems to use its wings very seldom. It always lives 
with its mate. The natives used to chase it with dogs or to catch 
it in snares. Thus it has been totally exterminated on the North 
Island; and now it is confined to the remotest Alpine valleys, on 
the South and West Coasts of South Island; yet it is still quite 
frequent in those parts. 
Another famous bird of chase with the natives is the Weka 
(Ocydrornus Australis), or the wood-hen, belonging to the class of 
rails, which have already become quite scarce upon North Island. 
In the grassy plains and forests of the Southern Alps, however, 
they are still found in considerable numbers. It is a thievish bird, 
greedy after every thing that glistens; it frequently carries off spoons, 
forks and the like; but it also breaks into hen-coops, and picks 
and sucks the eggs. Among the swamp-fowls there are especially 
some herons, an ovster-catchcr, the New Zealand plover, and the 
beautiful Pukeko (Sultana) to be mentioned. These together with 
wild ducks, including the splendid Paradise duck, and several spe- 
cies of cormorants enliven the numerous water-channels of the river 
estuaries, which are unapproachable on account of their extensive 
marshy bottoms; on the banks, beneath the dense foliage ot the 
overhanging trees they find everywhere safe hiding places. 1 ( )n 
1 The specimen of Notornis Mantelli caught by seal-hunters in 1850 on Dusky 
Bay, South Island, and preserved in the British Museum, London, has, as far as 1 
know, hitherto remained unique; and it appears to me, that this family of birds is 
now totally extinct. It is nearest related to the Pukeko, of the size of a turkey, 
