Mr. Cunningham on the Habits of the Apteryx Australis. 313 



boys by the help of the fingers placed in the mouth, — a whistle with 

 a hiss ; and it is by imitating this sound that the natives decoy 

 them, and either catch them by the help of dogs, or having induced 

 the bird to approach near to them by the whistle, they suddenly 

 surprise it by the glare of a lighted torch, which they have with them, 

 concealed under their mats, when they seize it by the neck, and thus 

 capture it alive. 



In this manner the bird, the skin and body of which are now sent 

 to England, was taken and brought to me alive. It may here be 

 observed, that the natives, when they proceed to the forest to cap- 

 ture these birds, choose the darkest night : and as the Kiwies 

 usually wander about in pairs, the New Zealander, readily distin- 

 guishing, by some difference of voice, the sexes, endeavours to se- 

 cure the female first, since the male will always linger about the spot 

 to protect its mate, and will thus give the natives a fair opportunity 

 to capture it also. 



When alarmed in the forest, the Kiwi retires precipitately into 

 its darker recesses, running with considerable swiftness ; although 

 its legs appear, from their shortness and strength, more fitted for 

 burrowing than fleet movements. 



The legs afford the bird a means of formidable defence ; for, 

 when hunted and overtaken by the small dogs and the natives, it 

 uses its feet effectively : and it is said the dogs unskilled in the 

 mode of seizing their prey have been greatly injured by its kick. 



Formerly, when the natives, wearing solely their loose, airy, 

 mat-dresses, were altogether more hardy than they are in the pre- 

 sent day, in which every man is rolled up in a thick, heavy double- 

 blanket of our introduction among them, and has thus become, com- 

 paratively speaking, effeminate and inert ; — formerly the natives w T ere 

 skilful " Kiwi hunters," delighting in the pursuit ,• and many a group 

 would they form to go and pass a dark tempestuous night in the 

 forest to decoy and catch these birds, the flesh of which, although 

 said to be hard and sinewy, they greatly esteem. r lhe feathers also 

 were in request for making or decorating mats, by sewing them upon 

 a groundwork of their native flax. Thus by their frequent night- 

 prowlings in the woods, the natives have extirpated the Kiwi in 

 some districts where it once abounded : and although it is still an 

 inhabitant of timbered regions less disturbed by the natives, it is 

 rarely to be obtained, because these people have become less ener- 

 getic and enterprizing, and certainly less hardy by their adoption of 

 the habits of civilized man than formerly, and therefore cannot often 

 be induced, by a promise of reward however considerable, to spend 



