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and rapidly take to trees when disturbed or pursued, they never make any attempt to fly. They are 
found on the mountains at all elevations ; but their favourite haunts are either on the flats by the 
sides of the rivers, or at 3000 to 4000 feet elevation, where the forest is very scrubby and dense and 
merges into open ground, and where the spurs that lead to the precipitous and rocky ridges are 
covered with coarse grass. In their nocturnal rambles on the mountain-tops — which the Kakapos 
seem at some seasons to indulge in — they appear to keep in line along the ' spurs and ridges, as they 
beat down broad tracks which it would be quite excusable to mistake for the well-frequented paths 
leading to some encampment in the woods. They seem strictly herbivorous, their food being 
principally grass and the slender juicy twigs of shrubs, such as the New-Zealand broom ( Carmichellia ), 
which they chew up into a ball without detaching it from the plant — satisfying themselves with the 
juice which they extract. Their haunts are therefore easily recognized by the little woolly balls of 
chewed fibre which dangle from the branches of the shrubs, or strew the ground where they have 
been feasting on the succulent grasses. It is stated by the Maoris that in winter they assemble in 
large numbers, as if for business ; for after confabulating together for some time with great uproar, 
they march off in bands in different directions. However, they are not gregarious at all seasons of 
the year, but are generally found in families of two or three together. They breed in February, 
having two eggs at a time, which they lay in the holes they scrape for dormitories under the roots of 
decayed trees and fallen rocks. 
“ The Kakapo can only be successfully hunted with dogs. The best time for hunting these birds 
is in the early morning, as soon as it is sufficiently light to permit of the sportsman passing rapidly 
through the bush, as at that time the scent is still fresh of the birds that were abroad during the 
night. The Maori dogs enjoy the sport very keenly, and follow it largely on their own account so 
much so that, when the Maoris encamp in a locality where these nocturnal birds abound, the dogs 
•grow fat and sleek, and the birds are soon exterminated. The Kakapo is esteemed a great delicacy 
by the natives ; but its flesh has a strong and slightly stringent flavour.” 
Probably no New-Zealand explorer enjoyed more favourable opportunities for investigating the 
natural history of the Kakapo than the late Sir Julius von Haast, whose observations on the subject 
were embodied in a paper, full of scientific interest, read before the Canterbury Philosophical Society 
on the 4th June, 1863. 
A German version of this paper was contributed by the author to the ‘ Verhandlungen ’ of the 
Zoological and Botanical Association of Vienna, of October 10, 1863. A translation appeared in 
Ihe Ibis of the following year (pp. 340-o46) ; and, curiously enough, a retranslation was published 
in the Journal fiir Ornithologie for 1864 (pp„ 458-464). But the paper as originally written has 
nevei been published; and as the author favoured me at the time with a private copy of it, I have 
much pleasure in finding room for the following copious extracts : 
“ So little is known ot this solitary inhabitant of our primeval forests, that the following short 
narrative ot observations which I was fortunate enough to make during my recent west-coast journey 
may interest you. Although I was travelling almost continuously for several years in the interior of 
these islands, it was only during my last journey that I was enabled to study its natural history. I 
was w r ell acquainted with its call, and had often observed its tracks in the sands of the river-beds and 
in the fresh fallen snow, but I had not actually seen it. The principal reason for this was, that 
formerly I had no dog with me ; and consequently it would only be by the greatest accident that 
this bird, not at all rare in those untrodden regions, could be obtained. 
“ The true habitat of the Kakapo is the mossy open Fagus-ioxest, near mountain-streams, with 
occasional grassy plots ; but it also lives both on the hill-sides, amongst enormous blocks of rock, 
mostly overgrown with roots of trees and a deep covering of moss, and on wooded flats along the 
banks of the larger rivers, liable to be inundated by heavy rainfalls or by the sudden melting of the 
2 B 
