324 



AVES--ORDER APTERYGIFORMES—THE KIWIS. 



the trachea." The nestlings are beautifully striped little creatures. The egg 

 is of a rich dark green^ but this colour fades in course of tinre, and gives 

 place to a dull bb.ck. 



These are curious birds, which commence their life in a mottled 

 plumage, with no visible casque on the skull, and grow to an adult black 

 plumage with an elevated casque of varying shape and 

 The Cassowaries, generally some highly coloured wattles on the throat and 

 neck. Eleven species are known, all of them met with in 

 the Papuan group of islands, with the exception of one species, the 

 Australian cassowary, which occurs in the Cape York Peninsula and extends 

 as far south as liockingham Bay. Most of our information regarding these 

 curious flightless members of the class Aves is derived from the study of 

 specimens sent alive to Europe, and many of us are familiar with the great 

 turkey-like heads and black bodies of the cassowaries, with their five 

 spiny quills in lieu of wings, their helmets and ornamental throat-wattles. 

 Like the emus, the long after-shaft to the body-feathers gives these the 

 appearance of being a double plume. Some of the New Guinea species 

 apparently inhabit the same districts of that great island, while others are 

 peculiar to Ceram, the Arn Islands, and New Britain respectively. The 

 colour of the eggs of the cassowaries is dark green, and the young are brown, 

 when full-grown, and have no casque. As in the case of the other Struthious 

 Birds, the duties of incubation fall upon the male, who looks after the young 

 ones when they are hatched. 



Extinct forms, allied to the emus and cassowaries, have been found in 

 Australia {Dromoriiis), in India {Hypselornis); while the nioas of New Zealand 

 (Dinornithidce) and Madagascar (^pym-nis) belong to the same group. 



Although the kiwis are recognised as belonging to the Struthious Birds, 

 they are decidedly aberrant members of the sub-class, and are very like gigantic 

 rails in their ways, being ex- 

 Tlie Kiwis. cellent runners and chiefly noc- 

 turnal in their habits. Like the 

 emus and their kindred, they are great hands 

 at kicking, and at a meeting of the British 

 Ornithologists' Club, when the Hon. Walter Roths- 

 child exhibited living specimens of every known 

 species of kiwi, the birds made known their 

 resentment by vigorous and lightning-like kicks 

 on the walls of their cages, some assaulting the 

 wires front- ways, and some kicking backwards. 



These curious birds will, doubtless, become ex- 

 tinct within a short period. There are only five 

 species of kiwi now to be met with in New 

 Zealand, though there is no doubt that the genus 

 A2iterrjx was more widely distributed over the 

 southern lands in past times. The kiwis have four 

 toes, but there is no visible wing, and the nostrils 

 are placed near the tip of the long bill. There is 

 no tail visible, and the long after-shaft of the emus and cassowaries is absent. 

 In the kiwis the hind toe, or hallux, is present, so that all four toes are 

 represented. The egg is white, and may be considered enormous for the size 

 of the bird whicli lays it. There is no marked difference in the size of the 

 soses, but the female appears to be slightly larger than the male. The 



Fig. 3. — The Apteeyx 

 i^Apteryx au^traiis). 



