3410 Birds. 



forms the Regent's Canal. Well provided with light, and with appa- 

 ratus for supplying heat and fresh air, it is divided into five stalls, or 

 "loose boxes," three of which are at present occupied by an ostrich 

 and two kinds of antelope. In the furthest of the divisions is a New 

 Zealand rail, most appropriately placed near the Kiwi-kiwi, not only as 

 an additional instance of the extraordinary Fauna of its country, but 

 as showing the striking contrast of its habits to those of its neighbour, 

 which it resembles so much in its plumage and in its want of the pow- 

 ers of flight, whilst it widely differs from it in the relations of its 

 organization. In a few words, the rail is active, inquisitive, playful, 

 moving about by night as well as by day. It jerks its tail in walking ; 

 it peeps and peers about, and seems to hide things and to find them 

 again, throwing the intervening material aside by lateral tosses of the 

 beak, almost like a bird of the crow kind. At night, it occasionally 

 utters a very strong cry, repeated many times in succession, which I 

 can only liken to the creaking sound I have sometimes heard produ- 

 ced by turning the large wooden screw of a clothes-press. It fre- 

 quently gets from the ground upon the roof of its little house, and 

 thence upon a sort of shelf; but I have not seen it open its wings in 

 springing up, though it sometimes does so as it lets itself down. The 

 species is, I believe, Ocydromus fuscus ; a specimen of Ocydromus 

 australis is in another part of the gardens : whether they are different 

 species or not, I am informed that they are indiscriminately called 

 Weka (?) in New Zealand, and, by the European settlers, wood-hen. 

 The first-named o.f these birds has lately been imported into England, 

 the other was purchased at the sale of the late Lord Derby's animals, 

 at Knowsley, on the 10th of March, 1851. 



Interesting as all these birds are, and only wanting a Takahe (Not- 

 ornis) to complete the main surviving features of the New Zealand 

 group of non volant birds, I must confine myself at present to a more 

 lengthened description of the one which is especially the object of this 

 communication. 



The stall in which the Kiwi-kiwi is kept is floored with brick, and 

 nearly surrounded by wainscoting of planed deal. In the right-hand 

 farther corner is placed a heap of light vegetable earth, with an edg- 

 ing of dry sods, and in the left is the square deal box which serves 

 for a house, in which the bird spends the whole of the day. This box 

 has an opening, ranging with the back wall, and hung with a little 

 sackcloth curtain, which reaches to within a few inches of the ground, 

 and under which the inmate passes when he sallies out on his nightly 

 expeditions. The side of the box nearest to the spectator is made to 



