Potts, — New Zecdand 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 Rhiijogonuitn and Schefflera 

 digitata,, or piki-piki (the young curled tops of Aspleniu77i hulbiferum). The 

 gizzard is especially delicate, very unlike that decidedly tough organ of the 

 domestic fowl. Mr. Docherty rej^orts 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 np for the 

 skins to furnish material for mufis 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 

 flrst instance of living on destruction which could be euphemistically explained 

 as " subduing the wilderness." 



That the race of the Apterygidce 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 

 flocculent 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, etc. 



z 



