Ornithological and Other Oddities 



Anatomical investigation shows that the kiwis 

 (Afiteryx) of New Zealand possess a particularly 

 well-developed organ of scent, and Sir Walter 

 Buller, in his "Birds of New Zealand," says of 

 the North Island species (Apteryx bulleri), that, 

 when hunting for food, it keeps up a continual 

 sniffing sound as the bill is darted forward and 

 travels over the surface of the ground, giving 

 the impression that scent is employed more than 

 sight in the search for food. The sense of touch, 

 however, appears also to be called into play, as 

 the bird will always first touch an object with its 

 bill, whether feeding or searching, even if it may 

 not be audibly sniffing ; and will pick up a worm 

 or piece of meat as readily out of a vessel of 

 water as off the ground, always first touching it 

 with the bill. As, however, the nostrils in these 

 birds, and in these only, are situated at the end 

 of the bill, and as the sniffing sound proceeding 

 from them is only heard when they are feeding 

 or seeking food, the conclusion that in this bird 

 at any rate scent is very important, seems irre- 

 sistible. Another flightless bird, the emu, seems 

 also to be gifted with keen scent, for Mr. C. W. 

 Ginn, who has spent part of his life in Australia, 

 tells me that it is able in some way to detect ap- 

 proaching human beings before they can possibly 

 come in sight, as, for instance, when a rise in the 

 ground intervenes. As Dr. Hill says in the 



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