2342 THE TIN AM US, FLIGHTLESS BIRDS, ETC. 



black. The total length of the male, following the curvature of the back, is about 

 twenty-three inches, and that of the female twenty-seven and one-half inches. Of 

 the other two species, the little gray kiwi {A. oweni}, of the South island, is charac- 

 terized by its small size the length of the male being only seventeen and one-half 

 inches, its moderately-long beak, and more slender legs; the general hue of the 

 plumage of the upper parts being light yellowish brown, mottled and obscurely 

 barred with wavy blackish brown markings, while beneath it is paler, becoming 

 fulvous on the abdomen, where there are faint brown bars. Some doubt exists as 

 to the right to distinction of the large gray kiwi (A. haasti}, which Mr. H. O. 

 Forbes, who believed that it occurred only in the South island, thought might be 

 merely a hybrid between the South island kiwi and the little gray kiwi. Accord- 

 ing, however, to Mr. Rothschild, it exists also in the North island, where the two 

 latter do not occur. It is a large and thick-billed species, of darker coloration than 

 the little gray kiwi, the dark bars on the plumage being nearly black, and the 

 fulvous markings tinged with chestnut. Fossilized remains of the existing species 

 occur with those of the moas, while one is supposed to be extinct, and has been 

 named Pseudapteryx. In habits the kiwis are purely nocturnal; and, at the time 

 when they were still abundant, were commonly found in parties of from six to 

 twelve, their shrill nocturnal cries resounding far and wide throughout the moun- 

 tainous parts of the country they frequent. No better account of their general 

 mode of life is extant than one from the pen of Sir W. J. Buller, who, after men- 

 tioning that the kiwi is in some measure compensated for the absence of wings by 

 its swiftness of foot, proceeds to observe that " when running it makes wide strides 

 and carries the body in an oblique position, with the neck stretched to its full 

 extent and inclined forward. In the twilight it moves about cautiously and as 

 noiselessly as a rat, to which, indeed, at this time it bears some outward resem- 

 blance. In a quiescent posture, the body generally assumes a perfectly rotund 

 appearance; and the bird sometimes, but only rarely, supports itself by resting the 

 point of its bill on the ground. It often yawns when disturbed in the daytime, 

 gaping its mandibles in a very grotesque manner. When provoked, it erects the 

 body, and, raising the foot to the breast, strikes downward with considerable force 

 and rapidity, thus using its sharp and powerful claws as weapons of defense. 

 . . . When 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 called into 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 con- 

 fined in a room, it may be heard, all through the night, tapping softly at the walls. 

 The sniffing sound is heard only .when the kiwi is in the act of feeding or hunting 

 for food; but I have sometimes observed the bird touching the ground close to or 

 immediately round a worm which it had dropped without being able to find it. 

 . . . 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 



