the number of wild cats there. When the Pegasus mine was abandoned, about five years ago, the 

 diggers left from fifteen to twenty cats behind them. Now they have spread all over the eastern 

 side, and northward as well. On one tract of country especially (called Eobertson's country) 

 Kiwis were very plentiful at that time: now it is almost impossible to find one, although 

 we worked all over the fiats at night. Down south of Port Pegasus there is a large tract of bush 

 which has never yet been visited. It would be very interesting to spend three months there, 

 One of the Kiwis I brought in reached 9i lbs. when put on the scales, and another has a bill 

 8 inches long, measuring from the corner of the mouth to the point of the upper beak. One 

 of the birds I am sending you has plumage differing from that of any I have yet seen. It 

 was also the heaviest, although a male." (This proved to be the variety distinguished by 

 the Maoris as Kiwi-kura.) Marklund adds : "I have found vegetable matter in one of the 

 Kiwi's stomachs. I thought I could distinguish the remains of white berries, but I will verify this 

 later on." 



Apteryx lawryi is very rare in collections, both in Europe and in the Colony. Being now 

 rigidly protected, it is of course difficult to obtain specimens. There is a chance of this bird 

 being preserved in Stewart Island, which has happily escaped the introduction of stoats and 

 weasels ; but on the mainland the protection comes too late, both for the Kiwi and the Kakapo. 



In the same hole with a very large example forwarded to me, there was a nestling, apparently 

 only a few days old, from which I have been enabled to furnish a description of the species 

 in that stage. 



Young. — Head, throat, and under-parts generally greyish-brown, the disunited filaments of 

 the feathers imparting a hairy-like appearance to the plumage ; on the hind-neck these filaments 

 assume a more arrow-head appearance, the plumage being at the same time very fluffy ; upper 

 surface generally tawny-brown, with yellowish-brown shaft-lines, the latter being a distinctive 

 feature ; bill and feet pale-brown. 



Half -grown bird (probably a year or eighteen months old). — Plumage similar to that of adult, 

 but with more chestnut-colour in it ; feathers covering flanks with shining amber-coloured shafts ; 

 bill, 3 in. 



The adult, as already stated, resembles very nearly in its plumage Apteryx mantelli of 

 the North Island ; but the young is very different to that of the latter species, being far more like 

 that of Apteryx australis. 



Towards the end of November Mr. Marklund obtained two eggs of this species of Kiwi, after 

 nearly a month's continuous search ; but it was so late in the season that, in both cases, the 

 chick was fully formed within the shell, and had to be removed by incision. This somewhat 

 damaged the specimens, but I am nevertheless able to give a full description of them. They 

 differ conspicuously both in size and in contour. The larger one measures 5 "4 inches in length 

 by 3'25 in. in breadth, and is perfectly elliptical in shape, there not being the least indication of a 

 smaller end. The other egg is smaller, measuring 5'1 in. by 3'1 in., and is narrower at one end. 

 Both of them are of a very pale green colour, or perhaps, more properly speaking, greenish- white. 

 and the shell, especially in the smaller egg, exhibits minute, widely-scattered pits on the 

 surface, distinctly visible under a magnifying glass, and similar to the markings on the egg-shell of 

 the Moa. In forwarding the specimens, my collector says : "I had a very hard job in procuring 

 these eggs, as the birds do not go far away from their nests while hatching, and of course the dog- 

 got a very poor chance of picking up the scent. One of the eggs was somewhat damaged? 

 through the bird defending it from the dog, before I could reach the place ; nevertheless it has a 

 good ' show ' -side. The larger of the two I procured in a locality where I had never been before, 

 and, owing to the dog being muzzled, the bird that was sitting on the egg managed to escape ; 

 and, inclement weather coming on, it was impossible to get another specimen before I had 



