CHAP. X1V.J APTERIX AUSTRALIS. 231 



influence the actual state of many tribes, and the 

 fluctuations in their relative positions. Happily for 

 us, the most eminent comparative anatomist of the 

 age, Professor Richard Owen, has, by a most care- 

 ful dissection of several specimens, the result of 

 which is given in the second volume of ' The Trans- 

 actions of the Zoological Society,' preserved to 

 science a most complete account of the structure of 

 the apterix. Unfortunately, no such account exists 

 in regard to another bird which has disappeared 

 from the globe within the memory of man ; I mean 

 the dodo, formerly inhabiting the islands of Bour- 

 bon and Mauritius. A few observations regarding 

 the apterix will not, I trust, be considered out of 

 place. 



The kiwi, or kiwi-kiwi, as it is called by the 

 natives, inhabits the deepest recesses of the forest. 

 Here, where gigantic trees are interwoven almost 

 impenetrably with climbers, and where in the in- 

 dentations of the mountains are formed small open 

 and swampy spots covered by bulrushes and tufts 

 of a high carex, or a liliaceous plant, the Hame- 

 linia veratroides, is its favourite resort. Here it 

 hides itself in the hollows of the trees during the 

 day, being a truly nocturnal bird. It generally 

 lives in pairs, male and female, one pair occupying 

 a certain district. As soon as night sets in it 

 leaves these hiding-places in search of food : this 

 consists of the larvae of coleopterous and lepidop- 

 terous insects, which it scratches out with its pow- 



