KIWIS AND ROAS 293 



They seem to spend a couple of months in the far north, four months in travelling, 



and the remaining half of the year in their southern home, thus enjoying two 



summers in succession. When they arrive in New Zealand the godwits are in 



their winter plumage, but those which remain when their fellows fly north assume 



the brilliant summer dress, although they never breed, these non-migrating birds 



thus wearing a summer livery in winter. 



By far the most interesting and aberrant of the existing birds 

 Kiwis and Roas. _ T _- . 



of New Zealand are those miniature members of the ostrich group 



constituting the genus Apteryx and the family Apterygidce. To these wingless 

 birds, which are restricted to New Zealand and the adjacent islands, it is the 

 custom in Europe to apply the collective name of kiwi, but it appears from the 

 notes of a local observer that this usage is not justified, the name kiwi belonging 

 of right only to the brown species, Apteryx mantelli, and its immediate relatives, 

 while such species as A. australis and A. oweni are designated "roa" by the 

 Maoris. An average-sized species may be compared in point of dimensions to a 

 weka rail ; and all these birds may be recognised at a glance by their long, curlew- 

 like beaks, with the nostrils at the tip, the loose, long, brownish or greyish 

 plumage, beneath which the rudimentary wings are completely concealed, and 

 the stout, four-toed legs. 



Kiwis, according to the observer referred to above, live in nearly the same 

 situations as roas, but prefer open ground, while the latter seek the densest 

 shade of the forest. Kiwis generally have white grubs in their stomachs, as well 

 as big maggots, wire-worms, and such-like, while roas depend more upon earth- 

 worms, water-insects, and berries. When a roa becomes conscious of the presence 

 of intruders it alters its usual stealthy gait to a loud tramp. Both these groups 

 of birds obtain their food by probing in soft soil with their long beaks in the 

 same fashion as snipe. Strictly nocturnal in habits, they spend the day in holes 

 in the ground or beneath the roots of trees, where the cock also incubates the 

 two elongated white eggs, which are so large that they cannot be covered by 

 the sitting bird. Kiwis and roas lay, in fact, the proportionately largest eggs 

 of any bird. The largest known species is A. australis of the South Island, 

 which is rather light-coloured, with very soft plumage. The North Island 

 A. mantelli is characterised by its deep reddish brown ground-colour; while 

 A. oweni, the smallest of all, is light greyish brown, and ranges over both islands. 

 The same is likewise stated to be the case with A. haasti, which is a larger and 

 darker bird than the last. 



This brief notice of New Zealand birds cannot be concluded without mention 

 of the extinct moas, or Dinornitkidce, a wingless group allied to the kiwis and 

 cassowaries, which appears to have been exterminated by the Maoris about three 

 centuries ago, or about a century after the reputed date of their arrival in New 

 Zealand. The largest of these extinct birds, Dinornis maximus, stood about 

 12 feet in height, and thus far surpassed an ostrich in stature. There were, 

 however, other species, belonging to different genera, which ranged down to the 

 size of a turkey. The most robust in build of all was the elephant-footed moa 

 (Pachyornis elephantopus), which was about the height of an ostrich, but had 

 much stouter bones. Moas were furnished with extremely rudimentary wings, 



