658 THE APTERYX. 



This singular bird is a native of New Zealand, where it was once very common, but, like 

 the dinornis, is in a fair way of becoming extinct, a fate from which it has probably been 

 hitherto preserved by its nocturnal and retiring habits. 



Not many years ago, the Apteryx was thought to be a fabulous bird, its veritable 

 existence being denied by scientific men as energetically as that of the giraffe in yet older 

 days, or the duck-bill in more modern times. A skin brought from New Zealand was given 

 to a taxidermist to " set up," and the man, taking it for one of the penguins on account of 

 its very short wings and the total absence of a tail, stuffed it in a sitting posture, such 

 as is assumed by the penguine tribe, and arranged the head and neck after the same 

 model. 



In this bird there is scarcely the slightest trace of wings, a peculiarity which has gained 

 for it the title of Apteryx, or wingless. The plumage is composed of rather curiously 

 shaped flat feathers, each being wide and furnished with a soft, shining, silken down for the 

 basal third of its length, and then narrowing rapidly towards the extremity, which is a 

 single shaft with hair-like webs at each side. The quill portion of the feathers is 

 remarkably small and short, being even overlapped by the down when the feather is 

 removed from the bird. 



The skin is very tough and yet flexible, and the chiefs set great value upon it for the 

 manulucture of their state mantles, permitting no inferior person to wear them, and being 

 extremely unwilling to part with them even for a valuable consideration. The bird lives 

 mostly among the fern ; and as it always remains concealed during the day in deep recesses 

 of rocks, ground or tree roots, and is remarkably fleet of foot, diving among the heavy fern- 

 leaves with singular adroitness, it is not very easy of capture. It feeds upon insects of 

 various kinds, more especially on worms, which it is said to attract to the surface by 

 jumping and striking on the ground with its powerful feet. The natives always hunt the 

 Kiwi-kiwi at night, taking with them torches and spears. The speed of this bird is very 

 considerable, and when running it sets its head rather back, raises its neck, and plies its 

 legs with a vigour little inferior to that of the ostrich. 



The fine specimen in the Zoological Gardens has already proved a very valuable bird, 

 as she has laid several eggs, thereby setting at rest some disputed questions on the subject, 

 and well illustrates the natural habits of the species. During the day she remains hidden 

 behind the straw, which is piled up in a corner of her box, and declines to come forth 

 unless removed by force. When brought to the light, she looks sadly puzzled for a short 

 time, and when placed on the ground, she turns her back not her tail, as she has no such 

 appendage and runs off to her box in the most absurd style, looking as if she were going 

 to topple over every moment. I noticed that she always goes round her box and slips in 

 between the box and the wall, insinuating herself behind the straw without even showing 

 a feather. Before hiding herself, she lingered a few moments to eat some worms from her 

 keeper's hand, taking them daintily with the end of the bill, and disposing of them at a 

 rapid rate. 



Upon her box is placed, under a glass 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 being four inches and three-quarters, 

 and its width rather more than two inches, thus being very nearly one-fourth of the weight 

 of the parent bird. There have been six eggs laid between 1852, when it was first introduced 

 to the Gardens, and 1861, when I last saw the bird, and each egg has varied between 

 thirteen and fourteen and a 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 

 colour 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'S 

 APTEEYX (Apteryx Owenii), remarkable for the puffy downiness of its plumage, and 

 MANTELL'S APTERYX (Apteryx Mantellii), and it is very probable that there are still other 

 Species at present unknown. 



