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males. To onr dismay in the morning we discovered that all the former had made 

 their escape during the night through a burrow which undermined the kareao-vines 

 and passed right under an adjacent log, a distance of some eighteen inches. The 

 three male birds were still in the cage. It is evident that the females alone perform 

 the work of digging and preparing the ' rua,' although, as will jire.sently appear, 

 they take no part whatever in the incubation of the eggs. All the sjjccimens of 

 this sex collected by us at this season had the plumage of the back and rump so 

 abraded and worn as to be quite valueless as skins, and were accordingly reserved 

 for skeletons. The males, on the other hand, while having in every instance the 

 abdomen denuded of feathers by constant sitting, generally presented a smooth 

 and undamaged plumage. In further proof of this, the adult females invariably had 

 their claws blunted, as the result of their scrajiing or digging operations, whereas 

 the other sex (except very old birds) had these weapons perfectly sharp. 



" I have already described how some of our captives effected their escape on the 

 mountain by tunnelling under their cage. We had further evidence, after our return 

 to Cambridge, of their engineering skill. One of my birds — not a Pirongia captive, 

 but one caught by the natives in the Kawhia district and the largest specimen of 

 Aptenjx bulleri I had ever seen — was placed with the rest in a vacant stable, which 

 had previously been secured all around the sides to prevent burrowing. To my 

 astonishment, however, in the morning, 1 found that ' Madam Jumbo ' (as we had 

 christened this large Kiwi) had, during the night, forced aside a heavy packing-case, 

 removed a loose scantling stud, deliberately tunnelled a jjassage through the hard 

 foundation, and escaped from her place of confinement, taking one of her companions 

 with her. They had disai)peared in a deep fern gully, and we naturally thought we 

 had seen the last of them. But the birds had been liberally fed during their 

 imprisonment, and this taste of civilisation was sufficient, after a day's absence, 

 to bring them back again into the township. The following morning the male bird 

 was found in the backyard of a chemist's shop, where he was causing consternation 

 among the fowls, whilst ' Madam Jumbo ' deliberately marched up the hill into 

 the Constabulary Barracks and made for the officers' (piartcrs, where she was 

 overheard, at daybreak, patrolling the Captain's verandah (tapping the boards 

 gently with her bill), and was immediately put under arrest." 



In October IsiUJ .Sir W'alter Buller writes : " One of the inmates of my aviary 

 at present is an adult female Kiwi, only recently captured. During the day it 

 retires into a small dark chamber, where it remains coiled up in the form of a 

 ball — and if disturbed or dislodged, moves drowsily about, and seeks the darkest 

 corner of its jirison, when it immediately rolls itself again into an attitude of repose. 

 It ai)pears to be blinded by the strong glare of sunlight ; and although it recovers 

 itself in the shade, it can then only detect objects that are near. Night is the time 

 ol its activity ; and the whole nature of the bird then undergoes a change : coming 

 fort.h from its diurnal retreat full of animation, it moves about the aviary un- 

 ceasingly, tapping the walls with its long slender bill, and probing the ground in 

 search of earthworms. The feeding of this bird at night with the large glow-worm 

 (' toke-tipa' of the natives) is a very interesting sight. This annelid, which often 

 attains a length of 12 and sometimes 20 inches, with a proportionate thickness, 

 emits at night a bright phospjimi light. The mucous matter which adheres to 

 its body appears to be charged with the phosphorus ; and on its being disturbed 

 or irritated the whole surface of the worm is illuminated by a bright green light, 

 sufficiently strong to render adjacent objects distinctly visible. Seizing one of these 



