188 Transactions. — Zoology. 
brown, streaked with black in the young and adult state; in some fine old 
birds a glint of golden chestnut edges part of the plumage. Not unfrequently 
specimens have the aural feathers of dull yellowish white or grey, the same 
hoary tone of colour being sometimes found on the occiput, chin, neck, and front 
of the thighs, These marks are not confined to sex. 
In giving measurements of species where an extensive collection yields an 
ample series from which selections can be made, care should be taken not to 
give dimensions of extraordinary specimens unless that fact is duly noted. A 
fairly average pair of A. australis from the Canterbury Museum afford the 
following measurements :— 
Mate. FEMALE. 
In. Lines. In. Lines. 
Bill from gape 4 6 ine 6 4 
Tarsus ...... oat cae are Ree ie | i a aa4 
Middle toe and claw ere Se se ee | 
Length ... š 2E 9 ‘ 25 0 
These specimens were obtained by Mr. Docherty, together with a large 
number of others, both of A. australis and A. oweni, from the West Coast, 
near Okarita, 
We cannot conclude these notes on A. australis, the big kiwi, without 
expressing our sorrow at the impending fate of this interesting bird, It is 
rapidly becoming rare from the demand for specimens for collections ; the 
number of skins and skeletons received at the Canterbury Museum alone is 
very great, and nothing but prompt action will save the rowi from exter- 
mination. 
No. 62.—Apreryx oweENl, Gould. 
Kiwi. 
Straight-billed Kiwi, 
Grey Kiwi. 
Blue-hen of diggers. 
As far as we are aware the habits of the straight-billed kiwi do not differ 
greatly from those of the rowi, or, perhaps we might safely say, from those 
of other species of Apteryx, due allowance being made for local influences. 
_ , The long, nearly straight bill of the kiwi is used in a similar manner to 
that of the row1, and in dried specimens is of a dark horn colour, or at times 
resembles yellowish ivory, but in life is of a flesh colour, pale almost to 
whiteness, the minute blood vessels of its delicate membranous covering 
imparting a pinkish tinge to its distal end, and a perfect network of minute 
veins traverse its entire length from the point to the soft bristly integument 
which clothes its base. About eight lines above the truncated knob of the 
upper mandible these minute vessels assume a stellate arrangement, from 
