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brown , the latter flushed with scarlet, and the outer ones edged with yellow ; underparts generally of a darker hue, 
shaded with brown and flushed with crimson ; the sides of the face, nuchal collar, rump, upper and lower tail- 
coverts, abdomen, flanks, and inner lining of wings all very highly coloured, the crimson feathers forming the 
collar being prettily rayed with orpiment-orange ; bill and claws white horn-colour. 
Yar. X. 
A fine bird received from Catlin river (likewise preserved in the Otago Museum) has the hind part of the crown 
and the whole of the nape and hind neck rich canary-yellow of varying shades, the normal nuchal collar only appearing 
at the outer edge of this gorgeous hood. The ear-coverts are bright orpiment-orange ; and the filamentous feathers 
overlapping the mandibles are crimson with light shafts ; so also are the chin-feathers, under which there is a band 
of rich canary-yellow suffused with crimson, spreading over the throat and connecting the two sides of the head. 
On the breast and underparts of the body there are numerous canary-yellow feathers interspersed irregularly with 
the ordinary plumage. The upper surface is in the plumage of the “ Kaka-kereru ” (var. 6) , being highly flushed 
or burnished with metallic green. 
Var. fi. Nestor occidentalis, Duller, Birds of N. Z. 1st ed. p. 50. 
To the above numerous varieties I feel bound now to add the form which, with some hesitation, I kept distinct 
under the above name in my former edition. As stated in the text, my reason for then rejecting the supposition 
of its being a mere aberrant variety of the common species was the account of its habits and peculiar cry furnished 
by Sir James Hector, who found it “ frequenting the precipitous wooded cliffs in the neighbourhood of George Sound 
and thence along the coast tc Milford Sound.” As however, during the last fifteen years, no further examples have 
been obtained, and no additional evidence to support its recognition as a species, it will be safer to treat this as 
another instance of congenital variation. For its more exact definition I will quote here my original description 
when proposing to differentiate the species : — 
“ Upper surface dark olivaceous brown, tinged with yellow on the wing-coverts, each feather margined with 
dusky black ; feathers of the nape dull red, margined with yellow and black, and forming a narrow nuchal collar; 
rump, tail-coverts, and abdomen dark arterial red, the feathers of the latter banded with a brighter tint ; ear-coverts 
pale orpiment-orange ; feathers projecting over the lower mandible tinged with red ; throat, neck, and breast dark 
olivaceous brown ; lining of wings and axillary plumes bright scarlet, obscurely barred with black, and tipped with 
golden yellow ; quills and tail-feathers russet-brown, the former toothed with yellow on the inner web; bill and 
feet dark olivaceous grey. Length 16' 5 inches ; wing, from flexure, 10'5 ; tail 6 ; tarsus 1 ; longer fore toe and 
claw 2 - 25 ; longer hind toe and claw 2'1 ; bill, following curvature 2 - 25, along edge of lower mandible 1*5. 
“Apart from the difference of plumage this species is appreciably smaller than the common one, while the bill 
is more slender and has the upper mandible produced to a finer point. The two specimens obtained by Dr. Hector 
on the west coast of the South Island differ very slightly in the details of their colouring, and there is scarcely 
any perceptible difference in their size.'” 
Note. To illustrate the brilliancy and beauty of some of these accidental forms, I have given a portrait of 
the brighter of the two specimens sent by Mr. Baker to the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, both of which are 
now in my collection. 
General Remarks. To MM. Blanchard and Pelzeln belong the credit of having first determined the true 
affinities of the genus Nestor. It bears a close relation to the Australian Lories ; and the New-Guinea form known 
as Pecquet’s Parrot ( Dasyptilus pecqueti ) appears to exhibit the transitional or connecting link between these two 
well-marked groups. 
In habits and structure the members of the genus Nestor are true flower-suckers, the tongue being furnished 
at its extremity with a fine brush-like development for that special purpose. The common Kaka of New Zealand 
is the type of the genus. 
Modem systematists, as a rule, have placed it in the subfamily Trichoglos since ; but I accept Prof. Garrod’s 
view that its proper station is among the typical Parrots *. Its decidedly aberrant characters, however, cannot be 
denied ; and I have thought it the safest course to place the genus in a separate family under the name of 
Nestoi'idae. 
* Proc. Zool. Soc. 1872, pp. 787-789. 
