THE KIWIS 269 



siderable force and rapidity, thus using its sharp 

 and powerful claws as weapons of defence. 

 While hunting for its food, the bird makes a 

 continual sniffing sound through the nostrils, which 

 are placed at the extremity of the upper mandible. 

 Whether it is guided as much by touch as by 

 smell, I cannot safely say ; but it appears to me 

 that both senses are used in the action. That the 

 sense of touch is highly developed seems quite 

 certain, because the bird, although it may not be 

 audibly sniffing, will always first touch an object 

 with the point of its bill, whether in the act of 

 feeding or of surveying the ground ; and when 

 shut up in a cage or confined in a room, it may 

 be heard, all through the night, tapping softly 

 at the walls. It is interesting to watch the bird, 

 in a state of freedom, foraging for worms, which 

 constitute its principal food ; it moves about with 

 a slow action of the body, and the long flexible 

 bill is driven into the soft ground, generally home 

 to the very root, and is either immediately with- 

 drawn with a worm held at the extreme tip of the 

 mandibles, or it is gently moved to and fro by an 

 action of the head and neck, the body of the 

 bird being perfectly steady. It is amusing to 

 observe the extreme care and deliberation with 



