362 



prep^ 



minced liver, or pounded flesh of any sort. For the first few days of their captivity the old birds 

 ate very sparingly of this new diet ; but the young ones were not so fastidious, eagerly devouring 

 any thing that was offered them." 



The Kiwi is in some measure compensated for the absence of wings by its swiftness of foot. 

 When running it makes wide strides and carries the body in an oblique position, with the neck 

 stretched to its full extent and inclined forwards. In the twilight it moves about cautiously and 

 as noiselessly as a rat, to which, indeed, at this time it bears some outward resemblance. In a 

 quiescent posture, the body generally assumes a perfectly rotund appearance ; and it sometimes, 

 but only rarely, supports itself by resting the point of its bill on the ground. It often yawns 

 when disturbed in the daytime, gaping its mandibles in a very grotesque manner. When pro- 

 voked it erects the body, and, raising the foot to the breast, strikes downwards with considerable 

 force and rapidity, thus using its sharp and powerful claws as weapons of defence. The story of 

 its striking the ground with its feet to bring the earthworms to the surface, which appears to 

 have gained currency among naturalists, is as fanciful as the statement of a well-known author 

 that it is capable of " inflicting a dangerous blow, sometimes even killing a dog!'* 



While hunting for its food the bird makes a continual sniffing sound through the nostrils, 

 which are placed at the extremity of the upper mandible. Whether it is guided as much by 

 touch as by smell I cannot safely say ; but it appears to me that both senses are called into 

 action. That the sense of touch is highly developed seems quite certain, because the bird, 

 although it may not be audibly sniffing will always first touch an object with the point of its 

 bill, whether in the act of feeding or of surveying the ground ; and when shut up in a cage or 

 confined in a room it may be heard, all through the night, tapping softly at the walls. The 

 sniffing sound to which I have referred is heard only when the Kiwi is in the act of feeding or 

 hunting for food ; but I have sometimes observed the bird touching the ground close to or imme- 

 diately round a worm which it had dropped without being able to find it. I have remarked, more- 

 over, that the Kiwi will pick up a worm or piece of meat as readily from the bottom of a vessel 

 filled with water as from the ground, never seizing it, however, till it has first touched it with its 

 bill in the manner described. It is probable that, in addition to a highly developed olfactory 

 power, there is a delicate nervous sensitiveness in the terminal enlargement of the upper man- 

 dible. It is interesting to watch the bird, in a state of freedom, foraging for worms, which con- 

 stitute its principal food : it moves about with a slow action of the body ; and the long, flexible 

 bill is driven into the soft ground, generally home to the very root, and is either immediately 

 withdrawn with a worm held at the extreme tip of the mandibles, or it is gently moved to and 

 fro, by an action of the head and neck, the body of the bird being perfectly steady. It is 

 amusing to observe the extreme care and deliberation with which the bird draws the worm from 

 its hiding-place, coaxing it out as it were by degrees, instead of pulling roughly or breaking it. 

 On getting the worm fairly out of the ground, it throws up its head with a jerk, and swallows it 

 whole. 



The stomach of a recently killed wild bird which I dissected, contained a Hinau-berry 

 {Elmocarpus dentatus) and rounded fragments of white quartz. Dr. Day writes me : — *' In its 

 very muscular stomach I have usually found the remains of beetles, pebbles, and many hard 

 kernels of the Hinau-berry." 



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