THE APTERYX. 383 
quills, very like the large quills of the porcupine, and being of different 
lengths, the largest not exceeding one foot, and zenerally being much battered 
about the point. When stripped of its feathers, the whole wing only extends 
some three inches in length, and is evidently a merve indication of the limb. 
The food of this bird in a wild state consists of herbage and various fruits, 
and in captivity it is fed on bran, apples, carrots, and similar substances, and 
is said to drink nearly half a gallon of water per diem. 
PERHAPS the very strangest and most weird-like of all living birds is the 
APTERYX, or Krwi-Kiwl. 
This singular bird is a native of New Zealand, where it was once very 
common, but, like the dinornis, is in a very fair way of becoming extinct, a 
fate from which it has probably been hitherto preserved by its nocturnal 
and retiring habits. 
In this bird there is scarcely the slightest trace of wings, a peculiarity 
which has gained for it the title of Apteryx, or “wingless.” The plumage 
is composed of rather curiously-shaped flat feathers, each being wide and 
furnished with a soft, shining, silken down, for the basal third of its length, 
and then narrowing rapidly towards the extremity, which is a single shaft 
with hair-like webs at each side. The 
quill portion of the feathers is re- 
markably small and short, being even 
overlapped by the down when the 
feather is removed from the bird. 
The skin is very tough, and yet 
flexible, and the Chiefs set great value 
upon it for the manufacture of their 
state mantles, permitting no inferior /, 
person to wear them, and being ex- | 
tremely unwilling to part with them 
even for a valuable consideration. 
The bird lives mostly among the fern ; 
and as it always remains concealed 
during the day in deep recesses of 
rocks, ground or tree roots, and is re- 
markably fleet of foot, diving among 
the heavy fern-leaves with singular 
adroitness, it is not very easy of cap- 
ture. It feeds upon insects of various 
kinds, more especially on worms, 
which it is said to attract to the sur- 
face by jumping and striking on the APTERYX.—(Apteryx Australis.) 
ground with its powerful feet. The ; ; 
Natives always hunt the Kiwi-kiwi at night, taking ‘with them torches 
and spears. The speed of this bird is very considerable, and when running 
it sets its head rather back, raises its neck, and plies its legs with a vigour 
little inferior to that of the ostrich. 
The fine specimen in the Zoological Gardens has already proved a very 
valuable bird, as she has laid several eggs, thereby setting at rest some dis- 
puted questions on the subject, and well illustrates the natural habits of the 
species. 
Epon her box is placed, under a glass shade, the shell of one of her eggs. 
These eggs are indeed wonderful, for the bird weighs a little more than four 
pounds, and each egg weighs between fourteen and fifteen ounces, its length 
being four inches and three-quarters, and its width rather more than two 
imches, thus being very nearly one-fourth of the weight of the parent bird. 
