Okdee APTERYGIFOEMES.] 



[Family APTEEYGIDiE. 



APTERYX OCCIDENT ALTS. 



(WEST-COAST KIWI.) 





Apteryx occidentalis, Rothschild, Novitates Zoologicse, vol. yL, p. 383. 



This species is thus differentiated by Mr. Rothschild : — 



$ ad. Differs from the same sex of A . otveni by its larger size, and by the more distinct, more regular, 

 and wider pale bars on the feathers and the more developed light tips to the latter. The wider pale 

 bars to the feathers make the dark bars bolder, so that they stand out more conspicuously than in typical 

 A. oweni. The reason for the greater distinctness of the pale bars in this form is their more regular 

 outline as well as greater width. In most specimens of A . oweni they are not only narrower, but more or 

 less irregularly V-shaped. Total length, about 480 mm. 



? ad. Larger than the male, and generally darker. Total length, about 540 mm. 



If the localities on our labels are correct, the distribution of my A. occidentalis is not easy to understand, 

 but I believe it to be a fairly distinct form, perhaps representing the typical A. oweni on the high mountains 

 of the Buller district, where it may occur together with A. haasti. 



Confined for some time with the two pairs of Apteryx lawryi mentioned above (p. 6) was a 

 spotted Kiwi, which I had purchased at the same time from Mr. Bills, of Dunedin. This bird 

 appeared to me too large for Apteryx otveni, whilst there were other superficial points of 

 difference. I concluded that it must be the young of Apteryx haasti, at that time a very rare 

 and little-known species. It accompanied some other birds to Tring Park, and Mr. Rothschild 

 informed me that it continued to increase in size for some months after its arrival. He 

 ultimately made it the type of a new species, which comes somewhat near to Apteryx otveni, but 

 may, I think, be differentiated by the characters he has given. Mr. Rothschild, however, is 

 mistaken in supposing that this type specimen csme from the North Island. Its only claim to 

 that distinction was its being a captive for some months in my garden in Wellington. It was 

 obtained by Mr. Bills at Dusky Sound, on the west coast of the South Island. 



One thing was very noticeable in the character of this bird during its period of confinement 

 with Apteryx lawryi. It proved to be of an entirely different disposition— less tractable and 

 unceasingly restless. The large brown Kiwis were soon reconciled to their captivity, but the 

 spotted one never relaxed its efforts to escape, perambulating the sides of the enclosure and 

 trying the wire-netting with its bill with never-ceasing persistency. On one occasion it did 

 manage to find, and then to enlarge, a hole in the netting. For some nights in succession it made 

 the circuit of the gardens, retiring before morning to sleep with the others, whose larger size 

 prevented their escaping by the same aperture. One evening I closed the entrance, and the next 

 morning I found that the vagrant Kiwi, finding the passage barred, had trampled quite a track in 

 the soft ground in his vain endeavour's to regain his place with the others inside the enclosure. 

 Then my dog traced the bird to its hiding place in the gardens, and it was restored to the yard, 

 where for some days it remained perfectly quiet, and ceased its attacks upon the wire-netting. 



To this species Mr. Rothschild refers the specimen, supposed at the time to be Apteryx 

 otveni, obtained by Mr. Morgan Carkeek, near the summit of Mount Hector in the Tararua 

 Ranges, in December, 1875.* It was caught by his dog, among the snow-grass, at an elevation of 



* Trans. N. Z. hist., vol. viii., pp. 193-4. 



