1863.] INCUBATION OF STRUTHIOUS BIRDS. 285 



tale about the manner in which the Kiwi hatches its eggs. I, of 

 course, cannot vouch for the correctness of the story, but think it 

 worth mentioning ; he said that the Kiwi did not sit hke other birds 

 upon the egg, but under it, first burying tlie egg in the ground to a 

 considerable depth, and then digging a cave or nest under it by 

 which about one-third of the lower end was exposed, and so lying 

 under the egg and in contact with the lower end which came, as it 

 were, through the roof of the nest or burrow. The appearance of 

 the egg which I propose to send corroborated this statement ; for 

 two-thirds of its length (the small end) was perfectly clean and white, 

 and about one-third (the large end) was very much discoloured and 

 very greasy, evidently from contact with the body of the bird. The 

 difference in the colour and condition of the ends of the egg was 

 quite remarkable, and well defined by a circular line passing round 

 the egg. I am sorry now that I caused the egg to be washed, but 

 did not at the moment remember the story told me by the native." 



Mr. E. L. Layard, who has lately returned to the Cape from New 

 Zealand, has favoured me with the following information on the same 

 subject, forwarded to him by Mr. Webster, also resident at Hokianga, 

 which contains much more positive information. 



Mr. Webster writes as follows, respecting the Kiwi : — " A fortnight 

 ago a native, out shooting Pigeons, discovered a Kiwi's egg pro- 

 truding out of a small hole at the root of a Kauri-tree ; removing 

 the egg, he put his arm, to the elbow, up the hole, and got hold of 

 the parent bird. The egg and the bird I have secured. Does it not 

 appear a strange position for the egg to be in ? 



" An old native, who professes to know something about them, 

 states that they lay but one egg at a time. The nest is merely a 

 hole scraped out by the bird, and generally about the roots of a tree, 

 where the ground is dry ; the egg is covered with leaves and moss, 

 the decomposition of which evolves heat sufficient to bring forth the 

 young. The process takes six months. When hatched, the mother, 

 by instinct, is at hand to attend to her offspring." 



Fortunately we are able to test these statements to a certain ex- 

 tent by the observations of the habits of the female Apteryx man- 

 telli in our Gardens, which, although unmated, has for several years 

 produced eggs. 



The Apteryx laid her first egg on the 9th of June 1859, as I have 

 already recorded in these ' Proceedings.' Since then she has laid 

 nine others, generally producing one early in the year, and the second 

 about three months after the first, altogether two eggs in each year. 

 She has more than once manifested a disposition to sit upon her 

 egg, having been discovered, after its deposition, placed above it, just 

 in such an attitude as would be assumed if this were the case, and 

 resisting all attempts to move her from her position. It would ap- 

 pear probable, therefore, 



1 . That the Apteryx lays one egg only at a time. 



'2. That this is deposited within a hollow tree, as recorded by 

 Mr. Webster, and that the female incubates thereon. 



3. That the Apteryx breeds twice a year. 



