Also 8 kagháá. [Maori.] A New Zealand parrot of the genus Nestor, esp. the typical species Nestor meridionalis; its general color is olive-brown, varied with red or yellow.
c. 1774. J. R. Forster (Newton), Kagháá.
1835. W. Yate, Acc. N. Zeal., 54 (Morris). Kaka,—a bird of the parrot kind; much larger than any other New Zealand parrot.
1873. Sir W. Buller, Birds N. Zeal. (1888), I. 24. The existence … of a species of Kaka Parrot (Nestor productus) on Philip Island.
1884. Bracken, Lays Maori, 38. I heard mocking Kakas wail and cry above thy corse.
b. Kaka-beak, -bill, ‘a New Zealand plant, the Clianthus, so called from the supposed resemblance of the flower to the bill of the Kaka’ (Morris, Austral Eng., 1898).
1892. Otago Witness, 24 Nov. (Morris). The Clianthus puniceus or scarlet glory pea of New Zealand, locally known as kaka beak.
