THE Al'TERYZ. 







The fine 8]MTimen kej.t in <-a].ii\it\ pi..,.-l ., \.-ry valuable I ii'l, as she has laid several 

 eggs, th.-i.-l>\ --iting at rest some di-1'iit.-.l .pi. -Minn-, ,,11 the subject, ami .-ll illustnting the 

 natural hal'it.s of the spedes. iMini,^ ill.- <la\ -li. i. m:iin> hidden behind the straw, which is 

 uj> in u mi-tier <.f li.-r l>x, :iii<t .li-lin.-s to ,-<,in.- forth unless removed by force. When 

 to tin- li-ht, -h- l<K)k.H sadly puzzled for a short time, and when placed on the groun I 

 she i urns her Iwck not her tail, a* >h.- ha* n.. >urh a|>|M-uda^i* and runs off to her box in the 

 most absurd style, Ix.kiii^ us if she were going to topple over every moment. 1 n<.tir.-.| that 

 she always goes routnl h<-r tax and slipM in between the box and the wall, imtinuating henelf 

 U-hiii'l tli.- >tr.w without v.-u >ho\viiii; a f.atli.T. IV-foiv hiding hers-lf, she lingered a few 

 moments to eat some worms from her keeper's hand, taking them daintily with the end of the 

 Mil. ami disposing of them at a rapid nit.-. 



Upon her lx>x is placed, under a gloss shade, the shell of one of her eggs. These eggs are 

 indeed wonderful, for the bird weighs just a little more than four pounds, and each egg weighs 

 between fourteen and fifteen ounces, its length U-ing four inches and three-quarters, and its 

 width rather more than t.. inches, thus being very nearly one-fourth of the weight of the 

 parent bird. There have been six eggs laid between the time when it was captured and nine 

 years later, when I hurt saw the bird, and each egg has varied betw.--n thirteen and fourteen 

 and u half ounces in weight 



The long curved beak of the Apteryx has the nostrils very narrow, very small, and set on 

 at each side of the tip, so that the bird is enabled to pry out the worms and other nocturnal 

 creatures on which it feeds, without trusting only to the eyes. The general color of the 

 Apteryx is chestnut-brown, each feather being tipped with a darker hue, and the under parts 

 are lighter than the upper. The height is about two feet. 



Three species of Apteryx are known namely, the one already described, OWEN'H 

 APTERYX (Apteryx owcnii), remarkable for the puffy downiness of its plumage, and MAN- 

 TELL' 8 APTERYX (Apteryx marUcttii), and it is very probable that there are still other species 

 at .present unknown. 



