398 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1924 



To distinguish the two Australian varieties, Manorhina melano- 

 phrys is called bell minor. Unlike the nearly pure white Guiana 

 bell bird, Ghasmorynchus niveus (of a different family), it is of a 

 beautiful golden green plumage, except the wings and tail, which are 

 dark brown. The eyes are dark brown, the legs and feet a light 

 orange. In the case of this bird the notes seemed to me a faint tin- 

 kle, like the sound of distant sheep bells. I heard a flock of 50 of 

 these remarkable birds give a charming concert about a little lake 

 20 miles from Melbourne. 



Mr. H. R. Haeusler (Emu, vol. 22, January, 1923) has had unusual 

 oppportunities to study the kiwi {Apteryx mantelli), and finds his 

 vision, during the daytime at least, to be very poor. Chopped meat, 

 worms, etc., placed in front of these wingless, nocturnal, New Zea- 

 land birds were apparently not perceived at all until they had been 

 "felt" by the supersensitive terminals of their long mandibles. 

 Both these articles of food, as well as the entrances to worm holes, 

 were located by " tapping " about with their closed bills. Mr. Haeus- 

 ler is convinced that in gathering food and for most other purposes 

 involving localization, neither sight nor smell is to any extent relied 

 upon; the bird locates objects mainly, and in many instances en- 

 tirely, by touch. Having found the entrance to a worm hole, the 

 kiwi enlarges it to a funnel-shaped cavity and, after grasping the 

 prey, pulls steadily upon the worm until the latter is tired out, 

 looses its hold, and is drawn to the surface. If alarmed, the Ap- 

 teryx " plays possum," and with bill stuck into the ground keeps^ as 

 still as death, its peculiar coloring making it difficult to see the bird 

 as long as it does not move— the old story of protective coloration. 

 From my own observations of this remarkable species I am con- 

 vinced that its night vision is much better than its diurnal, as indi- 

 cated by its liveliness at night and its pronounced orange-red 

 fundus, which closely resembles that of the owls and other noc- 

 turnal species. I had several opportunities of observing these birds 

 and of examining their eyes in the London Zoo. 



Many writers tell us all about the Polynesian hermit crab, and some 

 of them speak as if he were peculiar to Oceania. As is well known, 

 this comic and attractive animal is widely distributed over the 

 earth's surface under the forbidding family names of Paguridae and 

 Parapaguindae; indeed, more than one (small) species is rather com- 

 mon along the Atlantic coast. The following is what one of our 

 most reliable authors tells us about this creature : " The hermit crab 

 is the best bait for fishing in the waters of the South Sea islands. 

 There must be several varieties. I have counted three already : The 

 ordinary, small brown one called kakara, the huge red one found in 

 deep water, and the black, hairy kind, whose pounded-up body is 

 mixed with grated coconut to extract the oil. This latter is called 



