194 Transactions.— Zoology. 
Mr. Docherty, the kiwi hunter, informed the writer that up to the close of 
last year (1871) he had killed about 2,200 specimens of the kiwi and rowi 
(A. owent and A. australis), 
No. 63.—APTERYX MANTELLI, Bartl. 
Kiwi or Kiwi-nui. 
Brown Kiwi. 
North Island Kiwi. 
The North Island kiwi is now a rare bird, seldom to be found even in 
places where some few years since it was not uncommon. Ornithologists have 
manifested a disposition to drop this species and refer it to A. australis, on 
what appears to be insufficient grounds. The writer has had opportunities at 
divers times of becoming acquainted with living examples both of A. mantelli 
and A. australis ; he has examined several skins of the North Island species, 
whilst hundreds of skins of the southern bird have passed under his observa- 
tion, the result is that he arrives at conclusions which are opposed to Dr. 
Finsch’s and also Mr. Buller’s views on this question, (See Trans. N.Z. 
Inst., Vol. IIL, pp. 52-54). Mr. Buller writes thus :—“ Mr. Bartlett draws 
the following distinction as to the colouring of the two supposed species— 
‘Ap. australis: Colour, pale greyish brown, darkest on the back. Ap. mantelli: 
Colour, dark rufous brown, darkest on the back.’ The above descriptions are 
applicable, the former to the female and the latter to the male of the common 
species.” In this paragraph Mr. Buller, in a summary way, disposes of Mr. 
Bartlett’s (to our thinking) correct view of the distinction in the colour of the 
two species, and falls into a grave error by attributing sexual difference of 
colouration. It may not be impertinent to ask whence have specimens been 
obtained, or in what collection can authentic examples be seen that display a 
sexual distinction of colour hitherto unknown to the troglodytal A pterygide ? 
That which Mr. Buller terms Mr. Bartlett’s strongest point, namely, the 
distinction to be drawn from tke scutellation or reticulation of the tarsus, is 
left for elucidation in Mr, Buller’s work on our birds, now in progress. We 
have no hesitation in maintaining that the plumage alone presents sufficiently _ 
marked characteristics for the retention of the two species. In the “Catalogue 
of the Birds of New Zealand” (p. 23) Captain Hutton in some half-a-dozen 
words points out the distinction, which cannot be gainsaid, “4. australis: 
Feathers soft to the touch. A. mantelli: Feathers harsh to the touch.”* The nut 
is cracked at a blow. The feathers which clothe the southern bird are produced 
into soft hair-like points ; the hand passed over the plumage against the lay of 
the feathers encounters an almost downy softness; when compared with a 
similar test applied to the covering of A. mantelli it might be fairly so termed. 
* See also Trans. N.Z. Inst., IV., 363.—Ep. 
