Order APTERYGIFOBMES.] 



[Family APTERYGIDiE. 



APTERYX OWEN1. 



(OWEN'S KIWI.) 



Apteryx oweni, Gould; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 327. 



The cry of this species is very much weaker than that of Apteryx lawryi, already described. As 

 with that species, however, the sexes cry together — the cry of the male resembling the 

 shrill cry of the Wood-hen, although not so loud, and that of the female being a husky 

 screech. 



In October, 1891, I made the following communication to the Wellington Philosophical 

 Society : — " Mr. Percy Seymour, who has been residing some years at Preservation Inlet, 

 collecting the birds in that locality for European museums, writes me, under date of the 17th 

 July, ' I have ascertained that since this time last year Apteryx oweni has bred, at intervals of 

 about seven weeks or so, no less than five times, if not six. 1 If this be the case there ought to be 

 no difficulty in perpetuating the species, if the surrounding conditions are favourable. Whatever 

 its fecundity may be, however, a wing-less species stands no chance whatever in the face of 

 stoats, ferrets, and weasels, of which some thousands have lately been introduced by the 

 Government and turned loose in all parts of the country, in the hope of suppressing the rabbits.* 

 The only chance now of saving the various species of apterous birds is in their complete isolation. 

 If Lord Onslow's proposal to set apart the Little Barrier Island in the North, and Eesolution 

 Island in the South as inviolable preserves, stocking them from time to time with all the 

 desirable species and placing them under the strictest protection, be carried out, then we may 

 hope to be able to save from extinction some, if not all, of these interesting forms. Failing that, 

 their final extirpation is not far distant, and the student of the future will have nothing left to 

 him but the dried specimens in European and colonial museums, and such memoirs of the 

 indigenous species as the industry or opportunities of present observers may have furnished. I 

 have done what I could, both by pen and pencil, to preserve a history of all these birds, but I 

 believe we have yet much to learn respecting many, if not all, of them ; and on every account it is 

 most desirable that the birds themselves should be preserved, with, as far as may be possible, their 

 natural environment." 



A specimen in my collection, from the West Coast of Canterbury, is the nearest approach to 

 a perfect albino that I have yet met with among individuals of this species, there being only a 

 tinge of yellowish-brown on the plumage of the upper surface. As already mentioned, I have 

 recorded five albinoes, all more or less stained with yellow or brown, and one partial albino, pre- 

 senting only irregular patches of white. 



I have in my collection a specimen of Apteryx oweni, from Collingwood, exhibiting a small 



* " It is too late now to discuss the wisdom or folly of this introduction. But there is reason to fear that the 

 colonists will soon become familiar with reports of the kind recently telegraphed from Palmerston North, as follows :— 

 ' A child named Just was attacked on Sunday morning, while playing on the racecourse, by four stoats, two of which 

 fastened on to the child's neck, maintaining their hold until driven away by the child's parents, whose attention was 

 attracted by the screaming of the child. A number of lambs were also found dead on the course, appearances indi- 

 cating that their deaths had been caused by stoats.' 



