58 APPENDIX: NO. XLII. 
however, is by no means a universal or even a general accompaniment 
of the growl. 
On my first interview there appeared to me to be a kind of vicious 
dig or catch in the middle of the stroke, which made it, as it were, 
double; and I conceived a theory that this was for the purpose of 
first driving in the spur-like claw of the hind toe. Prof. Owen had. 
however, previously shown that this supposed spur had no existence 
as such, at least in A. Mantelli; and I have since that occasion seen 
little indication of the double stroke. I have frequently subjected 
my hand and hat to the blows, and have never felt the hind toe or 
seen the mark of it. The three anterior claws, or one, or two of them, 
sometimes inflict scratches, and sometimes the blow takes more the 
form of a pat, perhaps according to the way in which it happens to 
be received, for the aim is very bad, and often, I can only speak for 
daylight, very wide of the mark. As to the force and effect of the 
stroke, | have not seen it draw blood, though it once nearly did so 
on the tender side of my wrist; were the claws less blunt, the 
scratches would probably be severe. 
I may here mention the highly amusing scene which occurs when 
the keeper places his open hand upon the lower part of the bird’s 
back, and gently pushes him forward, to bring him better into view. 
Kiwi-kiwi does not think of turning upon his assailant, but holding 
himself more upright than ever, pushes backwards with a force alto- 
gether unequal to that used against him, and serving only to give a 
more steady purchase to his adversary, so that he is obliged to advance 
with little, reluctant steps, occasionally interrupted by a stamp, for 
he has not time to make a full stroke whilst his centre of gravity 
requires such constant attention. 
When he has been exposed for some time, during which, if he has 
not been approached too closely, he has probably maintained a sullen 
inaction, he begins to move his head and beak, which last he uses 
like the antennz of an insect or the nose of a quadruped, but not 
exactly like either. He does not steadily scent about like a quad- 
ruped, but moves his beak from place to place, touching some sub- 
stance or other, and then stopping for an instant, apparently to get 
the smell; perhaps not unlike a Cat in a strange room, only that the 
bird does not seem to take a second or prolonged smell at the same 
object. In fact, his mode of proceeding is, as far as I know, quite 
peculiar and original. So he pokes his beak throngh the straw in 
various places, touches the ground and dwells a moment upon it, and 
repeats the process until, perhaps, in some part, his whole beak is 
buried, and this being hidden, his whiskers and small eyes give his 
furry-looking little head very much the appearance of that of a 
quadruped. He will then take a sudden rush, forcing his body head- 
foremost horizontally under the straw with the rapidity of flight, 
his legs alternately pushing behind him, with the joints in such 
positions and states of flexion as those of a quadruped would assume 
under the same circumstances. As, for instance, in the leg which 
happens at the moment to be hindmost, when the toes are on the 
