ROSELLA.
THE OWL PARROT (Strigops[244] habroptilus[245]).
The genus Strigops is the sole representative of the fifth sub-family, the Strigopinæ. It is one of the most remarkable of all the Parrots, and is met with only in New Zealand. The face shows a disc exactly as in the Owls, whence the name, and the wing is very short, convex, and rounded. In its habits this bird is chiefly nocturnal, but not entirely so; the most remarkable fact connected with it being, perhaps, its unwillingness to fly. Thus Dr. Buller, F.R.S., in his excellent work on the “Birds of New Zealand,” writes:—“All who have studied the bird in its natural state agree on this point, that the wings, although sufficiently large and strong, are perfectly useless for purposes of flight, and that the bird merely spreads them to break the force of its fall in descending from a higher point to a lower, when suddenly surprised; in some instances even this use of them is neglected, the bird falling to the ground like a stone. We are naturally led to ask how it is that a bird possessing large and well-formed wings should be found utterly incapable of flight. On removing the skin from the body it is seen that the muscles by means of which the movements of these anterior limbs are regulated are very well developed, but are largely overlaid with fat. The bird is known to be a ground-feeder, with a voracious appetite, and to subsist chiefly on vegetable mosses, which, possessing but little nutriment, require to be eaten in large quantities; and Dr. Haast informs us that he has sometimes seen them with their crops so distended and heavy, that the birds were scarcely able to move. These mosses cover the ground and the roots or trunks of prostrate trees, requiring to be sought for on foot; and the bird’s habit of feeding at night, in a country where there are no indigenous predatory quadrupeds, would render flight a superfluous exertion, and a faculty of no especial advantage in the struggle for existence. Thus it may be reasonably inferred that disuse, under the usual operations of the laws of nature, has occasioned this disability of wing; for there is no physiological reason why the Kakapo should not be as good a flier as any other Parrot.”
OWL PARROT. (After Keulemans)
The Kakapo, as it is called in New Zealand, meaning a “Night Parrot,” is becoming rarer every year, as the places which it affects become more and more accessible to the colonists. From the long accounts of its habits given in Dr. Buller’s work, the following note of Dr. Haast is selected, as it gives a good idea of the habits of this singular species:—“So little is known of this solitary inhabitant of our primæval forests, that the following short narrative of 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 well 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 Fagus forest, 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 snow.... It is a striking fact, that—with the exception only of the valley of the river Makarora, forming Lake Wanaka—I never found the Kakapo on the eastern side of the Alps, although extensive Fagus forests exist there also. It appears to have crossed the main chain at the low wooded pass which leads from the source of the Haast to that of the Makarora, and reached the mouth of this river at Lake Wanaka, where probably the absence of forest put a stop to its farther advance. It is very abundant in the valley of the last-mentioned river, and is found even in the Makarora bush, notwithstanding that numerous sawyers are at work there. When camped on the borders of that forest we continually heard its call near our tents; but none of the sawyers had any idea of the existence of such a large bird in their neighbourhood, although the irregular shrill call had sometimes attracted their attention. It also occurs in the valley of the Wilkin, but is less numerous there, which may be accounted for by the existence of wild dogs in this locality. We may therefore safely assume that from the junction of this river with the Makarora the Kakapo ascended toward the sources of the former. In the valley of the Hunter, only divided by a mountain-range of great altitude but with some low saddles, no sign of it was to be observed, although large Fagus forests would appear to offer a propitious abode. This bird has hitherto been pronounced to be of true nocturnal habits; but I think, from observations I was able to make, that this opinion ought to be somewhat modified. It is true that generally an hour after sunset, the dense foliage of the forest giving additional darkness to the country, its call began to be heard all around us. It then commenced to rove about, and, attracted by the glare of our camp-fire, frequently came close to our tent, when the heedless bird was immediately caught by our dog. But as we met with it on two occasions in the daytime, occupied in feeding, and as I observed that it knew and understood perfectly well the danger which approached, we may assume that it has, at least in this respect, some relation to diurnal birds. In order to show why I come to this conclusion, I will particularise the two occurrences I have mentioned, as they appear to bear directly upon some other important points in the structure of this bird. When returning from the West Coast, we observed in the afternoon (the sky being clouded) a Kakapo sitting on the prostrate trunk of a tree in the open forest. When about ten yards from it, the bird observed us, and disappeared instantly in its hole, whence, with the aid of the dog, we afterwards took it. It is clear that in this case the bird was not overtaken by the coming day when far from its abode, but that it left its retreat voluntarily during daylight. The second instance I shall mention is more striking, and shows that the Kakapo feeds also during the day. It was towards evening, but still broad daylight, when we passed along the hill-side near a deep rocky gorge, and saw a large Kakapo sitting on a low fuchsia-tree, about ten feet from the ground, feeding on the berries. When close to it, the bird saw us, and instantly dropped down as if shot, and disappeared amongst the huge fragments of rocks strewed along the hill-side. But the most remarkable circumstance was, that the frightened bird did not open its wings to break its fall, but dropped as if it did not possess any wings at all. In order to see whether they would fly, or even flutter, when pursued by an enemy, I placed on the ground a full-grown specimen, which had been caught by the dog without being hurt. It was on a large shingle-bed, so that the bird had ample room for running or rising on the wing, if for this purpose it wanted space. I was not a little astonished to observe that it only started running towards the nearest point of the forest, where a dark shadow was apparent, and it went quicker than I had anticipated, considering the position of its toes and its clumsy figure, its gait resembling closely that of a Gallinaceous bird in its movements. As I was standing sideways to it, I thought that it kept its wings closed upon its body, so little were they opened; but my companion, who was equally anxious to see how our prisoner would try to escape, and who stood a little behind it, observed that it opened its wings slightly, but without flapping them in any degree, using them apparently more for keeping its balance than for accelerating its movements. This would almost lead to the conclusion that the Kakapo does not travel far, especially as I have already shown that its whole structure is ill adapted for running. But having myself frequently followed its tracks, and found them to extend a great distance over the sandy reaches along the river, such a conclusion as that suggested above would be erroneous. It must be exceedingly fond of water, because in many localities its tracks were observed for half a mile over shingle and sand to the banks of the river; and I am unable to explain the curious fact, unless the object be to mix river water with the enormous mass of pulpy vegetable matter which is to be found in its crop. With the exception of two specimens, the crops of which were filled with the large berries of a small-leaved Coriaria, by which their flesh was flavoured, all the birds examined by me had their crops widely distended by a mass of finely-comminuted vegetable mosses, weighing many ounces.
“I carefully examined the subterranean abode of this bird. From the account given by the natives, I thought that it would be found living in well-excavated holes, resembling in their construction those of the Fox or Badger; that the entrance would be so small as to enable only the inhabitants to enter, and thus to exclude larger animals from persecuting it. This, however, is not the case; because, with one exception, all the specimens obtained were either in fissures amongst rocks, or in cavities formed by huge blocks tumbled one over another, and overgrown with moss, or in holes formed by the roots of decayed trees. The cavities in the rocks were generally sufficiently large to allow of my dog, a good-sized Retriever, freely entering them. The openings to the other holes were smaller, and it was sometimes necessary to cut away a few roots at the entrance. Inside, the cavity was invariably of very large size, because we could plainly hear the dog advancing several yards before commencing his scuffle with the occupant; and on returning with the bird in his mouth, he always emerged head foremost, thus proving that the chamber was large enough to enable him to turn himself round. Before he had become accustomed to the work, the dog was often punished severely by the bird’s powerful beak and claws; but he ultimately became quite an expert, always seizing his prey by the head and crushing the skull.
“The holes or abodes of the Kakapo were not only on the mountain sides, but also on the flats near the river banks which are liable to be overflowed. There can be no doubt that when a sudden inundation takes place the bird can save itself upon a bush or neighbouring tree. I do not think, however, that it can climb the boles of standing trees, because it never resorted to them during the night or when persecuted by the dog—except in one single case, when the bird ascended a leaning tree close to our camp, and remained till the dog had given up the attempt to obtain it. But, notwithstanding that almost all the abodes that came under examination were natural cavities, I met with one hole that seemed to have been regularly mined. On the northern bank of the river Haast, just below the junction of the river Clarke, a large flat occurs, formed by deposits of sand, over which a thin layer of vegetable mould is spread, and on which a luxuriant vegetation has sprung up. The river, in washing against these deposits, has in some cases formed nearly perpendicular banks, about six to eight feet high. At one spot, about two feet below the surface, several rounded holes were observed, and the dog tried in vain to enter them. After carefully scenting the ground, he began to scratch the surface with his paws, and soon succeeded in widening the entrance sufficiently to admit his body, and he immediately afterwards emerged with the bird in his mouth. There is no doubt in my own mind that this hole at least had been excavated; and the burrowing faculty of the bird may be considered so far established. On a flat in the valley of the Makarora, the dog brought one from the interior of a hollow drift-tree, which was lying amongst sedges and grasses in an old river channel. There never was more than one individual in the hole, although very often, within twenty or thirty yards of it, another specimen would be scented out by the dog, the two being generally of opposite sexes. At night-time, in visiting our camp fire, they generally came in pairs, the two being successively caught by my dog, a single or sometimes a repeated angry growl from the bird informing us that he had hold of it. These circumstances lead me to conclude that during the day each inhabits separately its own hole, and that only after dark do they meet for feeding and for social intercourse.”
In size, the Owl Parrot is about twenty-six inches in length, and is of a dark sap-green colour, varied and mottled with dark brown and yellow; the face is lighter, being darker brown, the ear-coverts mixed with yellow; the belly and under tail-coverts, as well as the wing-lining, are rather brighter yellow than the rest of the under surface. The tint of green varies a good deal: from light yellowish to dark sap-green.