572 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



six weeks. When hatched, the mother, by instinct, is at 

 hand to attend to her offspring.' 



"Fortunately we are able to test these statements to a 

 certain extent by the observations of the habits of the female 

 Apteryx mantelli in our Gardens, which, although unmated, 

 has for several years produced eggs. She laid her first egg 

 on the 9th of June 1859 ; since which date she has laid nine 

 others, generally producing one early in the year, and a 

 second about three months after, making two in each year. 

 She has more than once manifested a disposition to sit upon 

 her egg, having been discovered, after its deposition, placed 

 above it, just in such an attitude as would be assumed if this 

 were the case, and resisting all attempts to move her from 

 her position. It would appear probable, therefore, — 



" 1. That the Apteryx lays one egg only at a time. 



" 2. That this is deposited within a hollow tree, as recorded 

 by Mr. Webster, and that the female incubates thereon. 



" 3. That the Apteryx breeds twice a year." 



Should the bird I have figured in the folio edition prove to 

 be A. mantelli and not A. australis, the following notes, by 

 Dr. Hochstetter, will have reference to it. 



"In the northern districts of the Northern Island this species 

 appears to have become quite extinct. But in Houtourou, or 

 Little Barrier Island, a small island situated in the Gulf of Hau- 

 raki, near Auckland, completely wooded, rising about 1000 

 feet above the sea-level, and only accessible when the sea is 

 quite calm, it is said to be still tolerably common. In the 

 inhabited portions of the southern districts of the Northern 

 Island, also, it has become nearly extirpated by men, dogs, 

 and wild cats, and is only to be found in the more inaccessible 

 and less populous mountain-chains, that is, in the wooded 

 mountains between Cape Palliser and East Cape. — Nat. Hist. 

 Rev., 1861, p. 506. 



A most careful and elaborate paper " On the Anatomy of 

 the Apteryx," by Professor Owen, will be found in the second 



