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part of the civilized world ; steamboats are on the river, and the forest solitudes have exchanged the 
Kaka’s scream for the whir of the saw-mill and the sound of the woodman’s axe. This is, of course, 
the inevitable result of progress all over the country. What the condition of our avifauna will be in 
another twenty years it is not very hard to predict, especially when we reflect that, in addition 
to this legitimate pressure from without, the Government is threatening to bring about the extinction 
of all the terrestrial native species by the wholesale introduction of stoats and ferrets. 
'lhe Kaka is particularly abundant in the Urewera country, and during the short season the 
rata is in bloom the whole Maori population, old and young, are out Kaka-hunting. An expert 
bird-catcher will sometimes bag as many as 300 in the course of a day ; and at Ruatahuna and 
Mangapohatu alone it is said that from 10,000 to 12,000 of these birds are killed during a good rata- 
season, which occurs about every three years *. 
There are several modes adopted for catching the Kaka, but the commonest and most successful 
is by means of a trained moJcai or tame decoy, the wild birds being attracted to artificial perches, 
skilfully arranged around the concealed trapper, who has simply to pull a string and the screaming 
Kaka is secured by the leg, as many bs three or four being often taken at the same moment. At the 
close of each day the dead birds are buried, and when a sufficient number have been collected they 
are unearthed, stripped of their feathers, fried in their own fat, and potted in calabashes for winter 
use, or for presents to neighbouring tribes. The perches used for Kaka-trapping are often elaborately 
carved and illuminated with paua shell. 
It may be mentioned that the birds manifest extreme fastidiousness in the matter of these 
perches (or tutu-kaha as they are called), alighting very readily on some, and avoiding others in the 
most careful manner. 
They commence breeding in the early part of November; and at Christmas the young birds are 
old enough to be taken from the nest, although, if unmolested, they probably do not leave it before 
the second week of January, or even later. The place usually selected for depositing their eggs is the 
deep hollow of a tree the heart of which is completely decayed. There is very little attempt at 
forming a nest, the eggs being placed on the dry pulverized wood which these cavities usually 
contain. 
Mr. James Edwards of Kihi-kihi assures me that on more than one occasion, when taking wild 
honey from old Kaka holes, he has found the skeletons of the young birds underneath the honey- 
comb, showing that the bees had dispossessed the birds and appropriated the nest as a natural hive. 
I have heard similar accounts from Maoris in various parts of the country, and have no reason to doubt 
the fact. 
The eggs are generally four in number (sometimes, according to the natives, six), broadly ovoid, 
measuring T6 inch in length by 1*2 in breadth, with a slightly glossy sui'face, and pure white in 
colour till they become soiled and stained in the process of incubation. Much care, and even some 
degree of fastidiousness, is displayed in the choice of a suitable tree ; and once decided on, it is often 
resorted to by the same birds for many seasons in succession. On this account the natives set a high 
value on their “ rua Kaka.” The mere robbing of the nest, if accomplished with caution, does not 
cause the birds to abandon it ; but the natives consider it of importance not to breathe into the cavity 
or to touch any part of it with their hands, for fear of “ polluting ” the nesting-place and causing 
its desertion. A nest which I discovered in the Otairi range, on my journey to Taupo, on the 23rd 
December, contained two young ones, apparently about ten days old. In a large maire tree with a 
decayed heart, about three feet from the ground there was a long narrow opening (measuring 2 feet 
in length by only 14 inches in width) leading into an inner chamber more than a foot in diameter. 
The walls of this chamber were smooth ; and on the floor there was a deep layer of decayed wood, 
# “ ltarangi tahi ” is the Maori proverb in allusion to this periodic recurrence of the Kaka season. 
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