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Cassowary of Iiiilia (" le casoar des ludes orientales ") with the beak of a specimen 

 of the Albatross I On the ijrevious page, however, Lesson describes from hearsay 

 and a piece of a skin a bird abont half the size of the Emeu, which is comiuou 

 in the forests of New Zeiihmd and which is hunted with dogs by the natives and 

 called " kivi-kivi." This most imperfectly described bird he names " Dromiccitis 

 )wvaezelandiae." .Shortly afterwards, in the same year, it dawned on Lesson, that 

 these latter birds. might have been Shaw's " Apteriu," as Lesson spells it, for he 

 says : " Nous ne dontons point aujourd'hui que ce ne soit Vapterix australis de 

 Shaw, figure pi. MLVII et MLVIII, du i.M" volume de ces Miilanges." Xo second 

 examjjle was known in 1833, when the late Lord Derby sent tiie original specimen 

 to be exhiliited at a meeting of the Zoological Society of London, and when it was 

 excellently described and very well figured by Yarrell. A second specimen reached 

 England in 1835 ; and between that year and ISoU several other specimens ui Apteryx 

 including the types of ^1. oireni and .1. m<tnteUi, were received in Europe. 



Aptenj.1- anstralis, although the first known form of the genus, is much rarer in 

 collections than A. oweni and A. australis mantelU, and until quite recently it was 

 by no means easy to procure a series of this bird. In 1888 Sir Walter Buller wrote 

 as follows : " Comparatively few specimens of this species are now brought in by 

 collectors iu the South Island, whereas the supply of Aptcnj.i- oireni is undiminished ; 

 and the conclusion is irresistible that Apten/.c australis, perhaps the most interesting 

 bird in the Southern Hemisphere, is fast becoming extinct." Sir Walter Buller's 

 fear about their " becoming fast extinct " may soon be justified, for it is evident 

 that these defenceless birds, if allowed to be hunted indiscriminately in a country 

 where civilisation and cultivation of the ground is fast spreading, and where 

 polecats, stoats and weasels are introduced and abound, must before very long 

 become rare if not extinct : but at jiresent they are evidently still common in certain 

 places, and it is strange that this fact was overlooked by the collectors, who liave 

 apparently never yet systematically explored the avifauna of all parts of their 

 country. On Stewart Island the Kiwi is now protected by law. 1 have received 

 specimens from Secretary Island (from Mr. Henry Travers), from Doubtful Sound 

 and West-Coast Sound : but recently a good number have been captured on Stewart 

 Island, and I saw, not long ago, a whole bundle of them put np for sale in an 

 auction room in London. Sir Walter Buller does not describe the exact distribution 

 on South Island. It would seem, however, that Apteryx australis is less fond of 

 monutainous parts than most of the other Kiwis, and that it is only known from 

 the southern parts of the South Island. It will be seen from my synonymy thiit 

 I cannot separate the Stewart Island birds from typical A. australis. The only 

 difference ever supposed to exist between them is the alleged larger size of the 

 Stewart Island form. Sir Walter Buller, having received a large female IVoni 

 Stewart Island, considered it to be different from .1. australis, and applied to it the 

 name ^1. maxima. This name not being applicable, 1 named it .1. lairryi, in honour 

 of Sir Walter Lawry Buller. Having now before me a good series of A. australis 

 from the South (or Middle) Island as well as from Stewart Island, I find that, 

 although the largest females happen to be from Stewart Island, they cannot be 

 separated, the majority of sj)ecimens being equally large from both localities. In 

 addition to this we find similar variations in size among A. australis ma/itrlli from 

 the North Island. 



One egg from the collection of Count Roedern, now in my museum, measures 

 114yx70-iJ mm., one from the South Island (received from Mr. Dannefaerdj 



