PARROTS OF NEW ZEALAND 
said also to fish. Though the snowy owl is no longer 
to be reckoned an inhabitant of Great Britain, its 
absence from this country of late years is probably to 
be looked upon as due to amelioration of climate. For 
the discovery of bones, or, to be accurate, a single bone, 
in the celebrated cavern, Kent’s Hole, near Torquay, 
shows unmistakably that the snowy owl in former and 
colder periods was a genuine dweller in the south of 
England. In relation to the colour of this owl and its — 
habitat, it is interesting to note that the Virginian 
eagle owl (Bubo virginianus), a bird also to be found in 
the Gardens), is whiter as it approaches nearer to the 
north. 
THE KEA PARROT. 
New Zealand has only a few kinds of parrots to boast 
of, unlike the neighbouring Australia. There are not 
more than half a dozen species or so, but two at least 
of these are of extreme interest ; these two are the owl 
parrot or kakapo (Sivigops habroptilus), a flightless form 
with the face of an owl, as its name denotes, and of 
peculiar structure, and the kea and its ally, the kaka, of 
which we shall speak here. This bird, which is known 
by the scientific name of Nestor notabilis, is of a dull 
olive-green hue for the most part, the feathers being 
tipped with black. The rump and the inside of the wing 
are red. It has a long bill and is a good-sized parrot 
altogether. It used to be classed with the Australian 
and Eastern lories ; but Dr. Garrod, at one time Prosec- 
tor of the Zoological Society, proved that it is not akin 
to those brush-tongued parrots, although the tongue is 
slightly frayed out at the end. He thought it to bea 
near ally of the typical parrots represented in almost 
every house in this country by the familiar and African 
grey parrot. Others have thought that it should be 
raised to the dignity of a special family among the 
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