Eggs of Kiwis 89 



uncommon to find a young bird a week old and a fresh egg in the same nest of 

 the Roa. Thus the egg of the North Island Kiwi (Apteryx australis mantelli) 

 is sometimes five and three tenths inches long by three and three tenths inches 



FIG. 29. South Island Kiwi, or Roa, Apteryx australis. 



broad, while the bird itself is only about twenty-six inches in length; the egg of 

 Haast's Kiwi (A . haasti) is said to be even larger. The eggs of the first-mentioned 

 species weigh usually between twelve and fifteen ounces, and exceptionally as 

 much as eighteen ounces. In color the eggs are pure white or slightly greenish 

 gray, but soon become much nest -soiled. "The shell is very thin, the grain rather 

 fine and totally different from that of all other struthious birds, more resembling 

 that of the eggs of RallidcR (Rails) or of Otis (Bustard)." The male appears to 



