NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 271 



Berkshire to taste, but as the latter got stronger than it, this was 

 reversed, and it had to be fed separately. It knew strangers 

 readily, and did not care for them being near it, and, if they 

 offered to touch it, raised its bristles and snorted, and, if they 

 persisted, it ejected a most offensive matter. After the severe frost 

 it began to fall off in condition, though it took its food, and never 

 seemed to be ill till a few hours before it died." 



2. The Kiwi (Apteryx australis, Shaw), and its egg. Early 

 in 1869 Mr. Gray, at that time Secretary of this Society, exhibited 

 a specimen of A. oweni, and made some remarks on the species; 

 and in November, 1878, Mr. Harvie-Brown exhibited another of 

 the same species with its egg. Although the specimen I have 

 brought here to-night is the species which was first described and 

 figured, it is still sufficiently rare to be of interest to the members. 



The Kiwi {A. australis) w T as first brought to this country from 

 the South Coast of New Zealand by Captain Barclay, of the ship 

 Providence, about 1812, and by him presented to Dr. Shaw, who 

 described and figured it in the 24th volume of the Naturalists' 

 Miscellany, under the name of the "Ferruginous-grey Apteryx." 

 The notices of subsequent writers are mostly all derived from this 

 description, although many doubted its existence. After Dr. 

 Shaw's death his specimen was bought at the sale of his effects by 

 Lord Stanley, who, to settle all doubts as to the genuineness of the 

 species, sent it to the Zoological Society, and at one of the meet- 

 ings it was submitted to a careful examination, and all doubts set 

 at rest. 



Since that time specimens have from time to time come to this 

 country, and no less than four, or probably five, species have been 

 described. Like the Dodo, Dinornis, and other wingless birds, the 

 Kiwis are doomed to become an extinct race, and only their com- 

 paratively smaller size and nocturnal habits have till now preserved 

 them from extinction. They are much esteemed by the natives 

 for food, and are hunted at night by torch-light, their skins being 

 dressed for robes, which are highly valued. The food of the Kiwi 

 consists of worms, grubs, and insects, which their long and slender 

 beaks and powerful claws are well fitted to obtain. The whole 

 length of the Kiwi, as described by Dr. Shaw, is about 32 inches. 

 In this specimen the length is about 24 inches, of which the 

 beak, measuring from the eye, is 5 inches. The feet are large and 

 powerful, with long sharp claws. The feathers, brownish with 



