The Zoologist — May, 1874. 3981 



admirable for scratching, yet they are not shaped like those of the 

 domestic fowl, which are adapted for traversing hard ground as well 

 as for that purpose. The robust tarsi, defended by hard scales, are 

 articulated with the tibias by very strong joints, which must give to 

 the kiwi great power of leaping or jumping, and thus enable it to 

 scale fallen trees and search along their upper surfaces for insects. 

 The hind toes and claws help in maintaining the position of the 

 bird when fossicking about the prostrate trunks, strengthening the 

 hold, and preventing it from slipping to the ground when reaching 

 down. 



The cry of the kiwi is not heard till nightfall, or, as the digger 

 expresses it technically but truthfully, "not till the night shift comes 

 on." We have paid great attention to the call ; to us it sounded like 

 " kvee, kvee, kvee," repeated sometimes as many as twenty times 

 in succession, with moderate haste ; we noticed that the cry had 

 scarcely ceased before it was thus replied to, "kurr, kurr, kurr." 

 These calls were heard through the night, commencing some time 

 after sun-down and ceasing about three o'clock in the morning ; 

 we never heard a call after dawn. 



The breeding season extends over several months ; eggs have 

 been obtained on the West Coast during a great part of the year. 

 The home is to be found usually beneath the spreading roots of 

 trees, in logs, or under rocks, and will contain sometimes one or 

 two eggs or young, but never more. The nests are found on the 

 bare soil, and are never constructed of dried fern and grasses. The 

 pair of birds usually remain together during some months and share 

 the labours of incubation, but the male apparently allows much of 

 the labour of rearing the young to devolve on the female. The 

 young have been found at a short distance from the family abode — 

 in a nursery, in fact. They are quaint-looking httle animals, with 

 not too much of the savour of youth about them, being nearly exact 

 miniatures of the adult; that well known ornithic characteristic, 

 change of colour, troubles them not; there is no young state of 

 plumage with them — none of that half-pronounced variation in tone, 

 or tint of colouration, which calls for the nice discrimination of the 

 practised ornithologist when questions of age have to be settled. 

 They assume not seasonal distinctions of dress; in winter and 

 summer they adhere to their sober colours with quaker-like per- 

 tinacity. The separate lodging is probably not set up till the young 

 are well able to forage for themselves under the guidance and 



SECOND SERIES — VOL, IX. 2 A 



