Obdbe STKUTHIONES.] [F am . APTERYGID.E. 



APTEEYX AUSTEALIS. 



(SOUTH-ISLAND KIWI.) 



Apteryx australis, Shaw and Nodder, Nat. Misc. xxiv. pis. 1057, 1058 (1813). 

 Dromiceius novae zealandice, Less. Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 210 (1828). 



Native names. — Kiwi and Tokoeka. 



Ad. similis A. mantelli, sed pallidior et magis grisescens : tergo tantum vix castaneo tincto : scapis plumarum 

 haud conspicuis, itaque ptilosi molliore distinguendus. 



Adult. Differs from Apteryx mantelli in the lighter colour of its plumage, the feathers being of a sandy or 

 greyish brown, with darker margins, those of the upper parts only slightly tinged near the tips with 

 rufous. The plumage of the nape and back of the neck is less hairy ; and the feathers of the back 

 and hind parts are destitute of the lengthened and stiffened points which characterize the other species. 



Obs. As a rule the South-Island birds are larger than those from the North Island; but occasionally examples 

 of Apteryx mantelli are met with fully equal in size to the largest specimens of Apteryx australis ; and 

 this is therefore of little or no value as a specific character. It may also be observed that in this 

 species the long facial hairs or feelers are, generally speaking, far less abundant than in the North- 

 Island Apteryx. 



Young. A specimen in the Canterbury Museum has the head dark grey, and the rest of the plumage greyish 

 brown, lighter on the underparts, each feather with a narrow streak of fulvous along the shaft ; on the 

 feathers of the upper parts this streak is darker towards the tip, and the terminal filaments are black, 

 whereas on the underparts of the body both the tips and filaments are light brown or fulvous ; the bill, 

 which measures two inches in length, is light horn-colour ; the legs and feet are light brown, the meta- 

 tarsi being covered anteriorly with thin scales, scarcely definable to the eye. In this young condition 

 the quill-tubes are very minute, and the plumage of the body is extremely soft to the touch. 



In Mr. Dawson Rowley's private collection of New-Zealand rarities at Chichester House, Brighton, 

 there is a specimen of the chick, apparently younger than those in the Canterbury Museum, and 

 differing from them in the lighter tone of its plumage, especially on the upper parts. 



The first example of the Apteryx of which there is any record was obtained in New Zealand 

 about the year 1813, by Captain Barclay, of the ship 'Providence,' and afterwards deposited in 

 the collection of the late Lord Derby. This bird was first described, under the above name, by 

 Dr. Shaw (Nat. Misc. I. c), and afterwards, at greater length, by Mr. Yarrell, in the ' Trans- 

 actions of the Zoological Society' (vol. i. p. 71, pi. 10). On the 10th December, 1850, a series 

 of specimens was exhibited before the Zoological Society of London, when Mr. Bartlett pointed 

 out characters which, as he contended, established the existence of two species, hitherto con- 



3c 



