282



The Kagu in Captivity.



action quickly through the bill crosswise and back a couple of

times until it was pulped, then swallowed.” The birds fight by

pecking at each other’s legs. The moult occurs about mid¬

summer.


“ Mr. Finckh was favoured in getting a pair of his Kagus to

breed. They commenced nesting in a hollow on the ground in

a secluded part of the aviary, into which they threw a few

coarse sticks and leaves for a day or two. When the egg was

laid more sticks were placed about it. The male sits continuously

on the single egg, but his mate may relieve him occasionally,

possibly at night. The birds defend their nest vigorously. Mr.

Finckh reckoned his birds were about seven years old when they

commenced to lay. It was observed that the egg was laid four¬

teen days after ‘ mating,’ and that incubation lasted five weeks.”


An egg laid on the 15th of September chipped on the 19th

of October and the chick hatched two days later, but died when

three days old. Normally the birds lay but one egg in the year,

but if this is taken they lay again.


“The egg,” remarks Mr. Campbell, “is a stout ellipse in

shape ; surface slightly glossy ; shell comparatively fine ; stony-

grey in colour, moderately marked with spots and blotches of

amber and dull grey, the latter colour underlying the surface of

the shell. Except for its fine texture and elliptical shape the

Kagu’s egg might be taken for that of a Gull. Dimensions in

inches 2% by 2 inches.”


The Kagu has been kept in our Eoudon Zoological Gar¬

dens, and it was there that the late Mr. A. D. Bartlett noticed its

affinity to the Sun Bittern of South America ( Eurypyga ) which

anatomical investigation has since shown to be its nearest relative.


It is about equal in size to an ordinary fowl, in colour

mostly light grey, and the wings, when expanded, are seen to be

conspicuously spotted with white, reddish brown and black.

The bill, legs and irides are bright red.


Although numerous in New Caledonia upon its discovery

when the French occupied the island in 1S52, it is at the present

time very scarce, and bids fair to become extinct before many

years unless measures are speedily taken for its preservation.



