THE OOLOGIST. 



S:h 



The favorite habitation of this bird is spots 

 closely covered with ferns, where it can eas- 

 ily conceal itself. 



Owing to the ease with which it is cap- 

 tured, the Apteryx is rapidly becoming ex- 

 tinct, and probably will soon be numbered 

 with the Dodo, Great Auk and others a- 

 mong the wonderful works of nature that 

 were but are not now. It is hunted with 

 dogs, and when closely pressed, takes ref- 

 uge in crevices in rocks and holes in the 

 ground, which it excavates for itself and in 

 which it constructs its nest. When pur- 

 sued it runs with great rapidity, carrying 

 its head erect. It is almost exclusively 

 nocturnal in its habits, and is hunted by 

 torchlight by the natives of New Zealand, 

 who highly prize it as a head-dress, so much 

 so that it is very difficult to secure a skin 

 of them. The natives also employ their 

 feathers for the manufacture of artificial 

 flies, which they use in much the same 

 manner as our fishermen do, and for this 

 purpose they must be excellent. 



When attacked, it fights with great vig- 

 or, striking powerful blows with its feet 

 and spurs, which are very strong. But 

 little is known of its breeding habits. I 

 have seen it stated that the bird sits under 

 the egg instead of over it, first burying the 

 egg, then digging under it, by which about 

 one third of the lower end is exposed, and 

 laying under the egg m such a manner that 

 it comes in contact with the lower end of it, 

 the egg as it were, coming through the roof 

 nf the nest or burrow. How true this is I 

 cannot say. It was ftirther stated that the 

 egg corroborated this theory, as the egg 

 was perfectly clean about two-thirds of its 

 length, while about one third of the large 

 end was greasy and discolored from con- 

 tact with the upper part of the bird. Mr. 

 E. Sayard furnishes Mr. Gould with the 

 following information on the subject : "A 

 native out shooting Pigeons discovered a 

 Kivi's egg protruding out of a small hole 

 at the root of a kaui'i tree. Removing the 

 egg, he put his arm to the elbow up the 

 hole and seized the parent bird. An old 

 native who professes to know, 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 weeks. 

 When hatched, the mother by instinct is at 

 hand to attend to her offspring." The egg 

 of the Apteryx is unusually heavy in pro- 

 portion to the weight of the female, being 

 fully fourteen and a half ounces in weight. 

 The Apteryx is a native of New Zealand, 

 and subsists on worms, snails and insects, 

 feeding in much the same manner as our 

 Woodcock. The first Apteryx seen in Eng- 

 land was presented to Dr. Shaw, and after 

 his death came into the possession of the 

 Earl of Derby. There are now several in 

 the London Zoological Garden. Not long 

 since, I mounted a fine specimen for Prof. 

 C. H. F. Peters, the distinguished astron- 

 omer of the Transit of Venus Expedition, 

 who brought it from the Kergulen Islands, 

 and to whom I am indebted for many of 

 the above interesting facts. There are two 

 other varieties of the Apteryx not differing 

 greatly from tlie above, viz : Mantell's Ap- 

 teryx and Owen's Apteryx. The latter is 

 nearly extinct, inhabiting the higher wood- 

 ed valleys. It differs from the above in 

 the bill, which is shorter and slenderer. The 

 feathers especially are broader at the tip, 

 and of a loose and hair-like texture. 



Jlrrt. Oologtcal Soctety. 



Utica, N. Y., May Slsi. 1876. 



The following are the estimates for print- 

 ing the Society's Constitution, as per Pres- 

 ident's call : 



H. T. Jones reports that Messrs. C. H. 

 Stump & Co. will print the same for $10. 



E. L. Hudnut's estimate, $13. 



S. L. Willard reports that Curtiss & 

 Childs' estimate is $8.50 or $9. 



I would respectfully suggest that the lat- 



