KIWIS. 49 



the nostrils placed at the tip, and had four toes. Latham called it the " apterous pen- 

 guin," since it had four toes and no wings, remarking, however, that "the form of the 

 foot is not greatly unlike that of the dodo, and in the above specimen the toes were 

 not connected by an intervening membrane; yet from certain inequalities on the sides 

 it is possible that there may have been one, and that it had been eaten away by 

 insects." Shaw, making it the type of the genus Apteryx, 'the wingless bird,' did 

 not remove it from the neighborhood of the penguins, pointing to the fact that the bill 

 also was "somewhat in the form of that of the Patagonian penguin." Temminck 

 united Apteryx and IJ ictus, the dodo, into a separate "order," the "Inertes," but 

 " could not find a more convenient place for these two genera than by associating them 

 in some way or another with the penguins." It was not before Yarrell in 1833 

 described the curious bird, that its true nature as a near ally of the Struthious birds 

 was generally understood and admitted. Numerous specimens of kiwis (Fig. 19), 

 have since been obtained, and not less than four living species arc now represented in the 

 different museums, while a fifth one (A. maxima, the largest one, being of the size of a 

 turkey) is only known from remains of a skin forming part of a Maori-chief's dress. 

 We have now also full and excellent descriptions of the internal anatomy of these 

 birds from the master-hands of Richard Owen and Huxley, besides not less valuable 

 information concerning their habits and way of living, as observed by such men as 

 Dr. Buller and the other New Zealand naturalists of recent fame. 



Like the other related birds, the kiwis are dromaeognathous, but the vomer unites 

 with the palatines and pterygoids, contrary to what is the case in the ostrich ; there 

 are no clavicles at all, and the arm, or wing, is rudimentary, as in the Casuaroideas, the 

 hand having only one ungual phalanx, which is provided with a long external claw ; 

 like the latter, they have both ischium and pubis free except in front. The ambiens 

 muscle is strong, as in Struthio and Hhea, while it is absent in Casuarius and Dromaius. 

 It was long believed that the respiratory system was quite peculiar, and more especially 

 that the kiwis possessed a kind of diaphragm corresponding to the membrane dividing 

 the cavity of the body in mammals, but quite recent investigations of Professor Hux- 

 ley show that the respiratory organs on the whole are like those of most other birds, 

 and that the diaphragm is a myth, there being not a trace of such a membrane. Only 

 the left carotid is present, there being two in other Struthious birds except Ehea. 

 The most noteworthy external features are the long snipe-like bill, with nostrils open- 

 ing near the end ; the rudimentary wing, which supports a row of numerous rudimen- 

 tary quills, evidently degraded rectrices; absence of separate tail-feathers; presence 

 of a short, elevated hind toe ; finally, a covering of more or less bristly feathers with 

 downy bases, but without aftershafts, in this respect differing highly from the cassowa- 

 ries, emus, and moas ; the fore part of the head and sides of the face are beset with 

 straggling hairs, or feelers, varying in length from one to six inches. 



Dr. Buller says that a full and complete history of the wingless birds which, 

 even to the present day, form the most distinctive feature in the avi-fauna of Xew 

 Zealand, would necessarily fill a volume. We shall therefore here only remark that 

 of the four existing well-known species, one, A. mantelli, inhabits the North Island 

 alone; two others, A. australis and Jiaasti are confined to the South Island, while 

 A. oweni is found on both islands. The general color is a dull mottled brownish or 

 grayish, the latter and smaller species being rather gray, and therefore usually 

 called the gray kiwi. A. Jiaasti is the "roa-roa," of the natives, and is the larger 

 one. The two other species can hardly be told apart by sight alone, but are said 

 VOL. iv. 4 



