_ Porrs.—New Zealand Birds. 193 
are on the increase on some parts of the coast. Several were heard of up the 
Wanganui river as being in packs, but no attempt had been made to destroy 
and stamp out this beginning of a serious nuisance to the settler. Bushmen 
do not dislike the flesh of the kiwi, nor is this fact at all surprising to those 
acquainted with it, for although the meat is coarse it has a gamey flavour. 
We found the kiwi made excellent soup and stew, flavoured with pepper and 
salt, a few leaves of Drimys, tender shoots of Rhipogonum and Schefflera 
digitata, or piki-piki (the young curled tops of Asplenium bulbiferum). The 
gizzard is especially delicate, very unlike that decidedly tough organ of the 
domestic fowl. Mr. Docherty reports the eggs to be excellent eating. 
This bird, it is said, exists in great abundance in the “ Sound country ” of 
the S.W. coast, but we fear that an evil day is at hand for these quaint 
denizens of the ancient forest ; the requisitions of diggers, of collectors for 
museums, and the cruel slaughter by dogs, they might outlast for years ; these 
causes are rapidly thinning their numbers, but they are not suddenly sweeping 
the Apteryx from the face of the earth. The new source of danger it is said 
arises from “ that deformed thief fashion.” A demand is springing up for the 
skins to furnish material for muffs for frivolous women ; although the thought 
may seem far-fetched, who knows but this female vanity may be the means of 
modifying the serene climate of the West Coast, by causing the extermination 
of an ancient race of insect eaters, usefully employed as preservers of the forest. 
However much on economical grounds we may question the right or policy of 
permitting the extirpation of so useful a check on insect life, in this colony 
a strong protest against such barbarity cannot be expected ; a few lovers of 
nature might raise their voices against it, but their words would fall 
unheeded unless backed by general opinion from without our little sphere. 
Instead of protest it is more likely that some blatant announcement would be 
circulated of the establishment of a new local industry. It would not be the 
first instance of living on destruction which could be euphemistically explained 
as “ subduing the wilderness.” 
That the race of the Apterygide is indeed ancient is proved by their 
- being found on islands separated by deep channels from the main land. 
Before concluding these remarks on the straight-billed kiwi it should be 
stated that specimens obtained south of the Waitaroa river, in Westland, 
present some differences of plumage by which they can readily be distinguished 
from skins in the Canterbury Museum, which were obtained in the neighbour- 
hood of Hokitika. The birds from the northerly districts have a more 
floceulent plumage, lighter in tone than those which are found in the country 
lying under the shadow of Mount Cook. 
Specimens are occasionally met with that are here and there marked with 
white, as on the anterior neck, thigh, ete. 
