plumage was extremely gentle, quite free from vice, never attempting to use its formidable bill. When requested to dance it would begin to bob its head up and down and jerk its body to and fro in the most ludicrous manner ; and this performance never failed to please every observer. Restless at night, he would traverse his cage all over and give utterance to some curious sound every now and then. I fear the cause of this bird's death was eating paint ; and his extreme amiability of temper caused his loss to be a subject of great regret, almost as much so as that of the famous Parrot mentioned by Miss Strickland, in her ' Princesses of the House of Stuart,' p. 63, belonging to the daughter of King Charles I., then consort of William II., Stadtholder of Holland (this bird bore some faint resemblance to the White Kaka, but had a red neck and tail, though otherwise a white Parrot), to which its owner was much attached. "One day she left it under the care of her maids of honour. On her return all her damsels fell at her feet in silence. 'Where is my Parrot?' 'Alas, madam! the cage was opened and he flew away.' The Princess said kindly, 'You are very foolish, my children, to weep for this bird; beautiful though he was, he was not worthy of the tears of christians. Comfort yourselves and me, and let it not be mentioned again." After all it was a light loss to that which her father and great grandmother sustained.
It is said that Onesicrites, the Admiral of the fleet of Alexander the Great, first brought from the island of Ceylon a green Parrot with a red neck. Probably the Alexandrine Parrakeet (Palæornis alexandri) is meant, as Jerdon (in his 'Birds of India') says "this bird is abundant in Ceylon." Aristotle evidently knew nothing of Parrots, and is doubtful about their talking.
Mr. Potts ('Transactions of the New-Zealand Institute,' vol. iii. pi. vii.) gives an interesting illustration of the nest of the Kaka in the hole of a tree, where, he says, "it lays four white eggs on the decayed wood." He also states the following condensed particulars : — "It finds its living on and amongst trees, which it is often accused of injuring by stripping down
