Ordee APTERYGIFORMES.] 



[Family APTERYGIDiE 



APTERYX MANTELLI. 



(MANTELL'S KIWI.) 



Apteryx mantelli, Bartlett, Buller, Birds of New Zealand, 1st Ed. 1873, p. 358. 

 Apteryx bulled, Sharpe, Buller, op. cit, 2nd Ed., 1888, vol. ii., p. 308 [in part]. 



I have little or nothing to add to the full account of this Kiwi recorded in the ' Birds of New 

 Zealand' (vol. ii., pp. 311-321). 



As already mentioned, I liberated this species on the wooded island in Lake Papaitonga, the 

 first suggestion having come from my friend Tamati Banapiri, in a letter, of which the following 

 is a translation : — 



" Manakau, 5th February, 1897. 



" Friend, Sir Walter Buller, Salutations ! I have in my possession a live Kiwi, one I brought 

 with me lately from Whakarewarewa, Botorua. I have thought that it would be an excellent 

 thing to place it on your island at Papaitonga. If you desire to have it, then come at any time, 

 and fetch it from my place here at Ohau. 



" From your friend, 



"TAMATI BANAPIBI." 



It is very pleasing to find a Maori taking so practical an interest in the preservation of one 

 of the vanishing forms of native bird life. But the writer of the letter is an exceptionally intel- 

 ligent man, belonging to the Ngatiraukawa tribe. He is the owner of a small sheep-run and 

 model farm at Ohau, from which he derives a considerable income, and he takes an active part 

 in the affairs of his race. He is the author of a most interesting article (in Maori) " On the 

 Native Modes of Catching Birds," in the ' Polynesian Journal,' illustrated with very creditable 

 drawings by himself ! 



I have to notice a singular development in the bill of a Kiwi from the Hawera district, 

 which was kindly presented to me by the late Mr. S. H. Drew, of Wanganui. The lower 

 mandible was bent downwards at the tip, after the familiar form of a boathook. Most of the 

 toes were without claws, having blunt and rounded extremities. I think this condition was due 

 to the bird having, when very young, passed over ground on which a fire was smouldering, using 

 the bill in the manner habitual to it, and getting severely burned in consequence. Notwithstand- 

 ing these drawbacks, this Kiwi seemed to have had no difficulty in procuring food, and was in 

 excellent condition of body when presented to me. As requested by Mr. Drew, I turned it loose 

 on my little wooded island, at Papaitonga, where it would have the companionship of its own and 

 other species. 



I find in my diary a note which is worth recording, as showing the wonderful vitality of this 

 species. I purchased a half-grown Kiwi, in vigorous health, which I decided to kill as a specimen. 

 I adopted the usual means — compression of the breast-bone against the back. The Kiwi fought 

 hard for life, but at length succumbed, and I laid it in a specimen-box, limp and lifeless, being to 

 all appearance absolutely dead. In the evening I went to fetch my bird, intending to skin it, 

 when, to my surprise, I found it alive and active, showing no sign of the tragic experience of the 

 morning. I had not the heart to repeat the experiment, so I had a comfortable cage made for it, 

 kept the bird for a month to accustom it to confinement, and then shipped it to England as a 

 present to the Zoological Society, rewarding in this manner its heroic struggle for existence. 



