3940 The Zoologist— April, 1874. 



the defensive powers of the bird, supposed to be conferred by the 

 robust tarsus and foot, which have gallinaceous characteristics much 

 more prominent in life than in the best-preserved specimens. The 

 articulation of the tibia with the tarsus is one of great strength ; the 

 powerful scale-defended leg is united to a foot furnished with strong 

 claws, with which the bird scratches for its food, after being directed 

 thereto by its powerful olfactory organs. We believe that the beauti- 

 fully organized bill (which should be observed in life, to understand 

 its delicacy) is used solely for probing into soft humus, moss and 

 decayed wood. When the rowi is irritated it makes a cracking noise 

 by snapping the mandibles together very rapidly. In attempting 

 to defend itself it displays an awkward feebleness rather than a 

 posture of self-protection, by striking forwards with its foot, as in 

 the act of scratching, at a line about its own height, and its only 

 defence against dogs is in concealment. In walking the step is 

 peculiar, the foot is lifted deliberately, and rather high above the 

 ground, its gait reminding one of the movements of a person walking 

 stealthily. Its run is a slinging trot; but in fairness it should be 

 remembered that our judgment of its locomotive powers is based on 

 the blundering efforts of the wretched animal half-blinded by the un- 

 accustomed glare of daylight, or frightened and dazzled by artificial 

 light at night. There are a few other points in its organization 

 which must be taken into consideration. In the first place, the 

 feathers are soft, flocculent and silky towards the base, whilst the 

 distal portions terminate in produced hair-like webs, the plumage 

 consisting simply of clothing feathers, which during the progress of 

 the bird give out no sound of fluttering or rustling. This peculiarity 

 of the plumage confers another advantage by its compressibility, 

 whilst it can be kept far cleaner than the integument of birds having 

 feathers with closer vanes, interlocking barbulcs or thicker down, 

 as with this hair-like dress a single shake rids the bird of every 

 foreign particle, while the feathers, covering the body like a thatch, 

 effectually keep off the wet of the ever-humid ferns and mosses 

 among which the bird lives. If an Apteryx be plucked, its body 

 will be found somewhat conical from the point of the bill to the 

 thighs — a form well devised for gliding through the thick ferny 

 bottoms choked with the heavy fronds of Todea superba or the 

 close-trailing folds of Freycinetia, and enabling the long bill to be 

 used to the greatest advantage in exploring deep but narrow fissures 

 about the roots of trees. 



