22 BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



these the beaks of A. australis are more true to nature than those of 

 A. owenii, which remam too much curved. 



Mr. Potts says (' Transactions of the New-Zealand Institute,' p. 190) : — 

 "They " (the young) " are quaint-looking little animals, with not too much 

 of the savour of youth about them, being nearly exact miniatures of the 

 adult. The well-known ornithic characteristic change of colour troubles 

 them not. There is no young state of plumage Avith them, none of that 

 half-pronounced variation in tone or tint of coloration which calls for the 

 nice discrimination of practised ornithologists when questions of age have to 

 be settled. They assume not seasonal distinctions of dress ; in winter and 

 summer they adhere to their sober colours with quaker-like pertinacity. 

 Kiwis suffer from two races of parasites." 



Dr. Buller, in his ' Birds of New Zealand,' p. 369, mentions one of my 

 chicks of A. owenii as of " a uniform yellowish-brown colour, with the tips 

 of the feathers lighter." He goes on, " Dr. J. F. Knox has a younger 

 specimen, obtained at Nelson in November 1858 — a Kiwi chick, just escaped 

 from the egg, or rather, in all probability, taken from the egg. Weighed 

 exactly 2 ounces; bill straight, soft, and measuring r25 inch in length; 

 feathers few in number; wings exceedingly small, and no claw observable." 



Another specimen of mine, lately received, most probably a male, has 

 the beak rather less than an inch and a half long. I take this bird to have 

 been just hatched. 



