The location of a 1967 sighting of South Island Kokako (Callaeas cinerea cinerea) in beech (Nothofagus) forest at Mount Aspiring National Park was searched, without success, in May 1981. Early literature on South Island Kokako shows that they commonly inhabited beech forest and had ground-feeding and low-nesting habits which made them vulnerable to introduced mammalian predators. It is suggested that the dramatic irruptions of rodents and stoats (Mustela erminea) that occur after beech ‘mast’ years in the South Island may have contributed to the rapid decline of C. c. cinerea.