188 



Transactions. — Zoology. 



Male. 



Female. 



In. Lines. 



In. Lines, 



4 6.. 



6 4 



2 8.. 



2 11 



2 9 



3 



21 9 



. 25 



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 aftbrd the 

 following measurements :— 



Bill from gape 

 Tarsus 



Middle toe and claw 

 Length 



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. — Apteryx oweni, 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 rowx, 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 frpm 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 



