NATURAL HISTORY. 
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called kaka huripa ; the one with a smaller one is called kaka 
motaraua. Some kaka make their nests in the soft sand cliffs; 
these are of much lighter color, the back and wings being of 
a dirty cream color, and the breast of a bright red. This may 
be the platycercus auriceps, or trichoylossas aurifrons korako. 
The most remarkable bird of this family is the kakapo, or 
tarepo, (strigops habroptilus,) the night parrot. It is as large 
as a hen, of a light green and yellow color, banded with 
brown, with large black whiskers, and frequents mountains 
and precipices, and though possessing wings, seldom uses 
them; it is gregarious; one generally keeps guard, and so 
carefully, that it can never be approached on the windward 
side. In appearance it resembles the owl. The natives say, 
there are two kinds, one of which is as large as the kiwi ; it is 
extremely rare, and will be soon extinct in the North Island. 
I have only seen two caught there: it is very delicate eating. 
This remarkable bird is more abundant in the Middle Island. 
Fam. Cuculidce. —The kohoperoa, kawekawea, koekoea, (eu- 
dynamys taitensis.) This is a bird of passage, and one of the 
New Zealand cuckoos ; it has a long tail, of the same color as 
the sparrow-hawk, and altogether not unlike it; the body is 
short and thick, with short legs and strong claws. It is a sweet 
singing bird, but is only heard during the warmest months 
of the year, when it sings all the night. Its appearance is 
a token for the planting of the kumara, and its departure, that 
it is time to dig them up. Some have an idea, that this bird 
hibernates under the water. The Taupo natives think that it 
creeps into holes, where it turns into a lizard, and loses its 
feathers ; on the approach of summer, it crawls out of its 
hole, its feathers then begin to grow, the tail drops off, and it 
again becomes a bird. In its lizard form, it is called he ngaha, 
but in Wanganui, he piri rewa, or tree lizard. The natives 
say, that always before the wind is about to blow from the 
south, the kohoperoa ceases to sing, and does not commence 
again till the west wind blows, or till a breeze springs up from 
the north. When a child is deserted by its parents, it is said 
to be “ Te parahaka o te koikoea ,”—“An egg left in another’s 
