Birds. 3421 



cessful in finding One, at least to give a little sneeze to clear the nos- 

 trils. He then perhaps takes a step in advance, and applies his nose 

 very deliberately and attentively to several parts of the soil ; almost 

 seeming to listen, but never approaching his ears to the ground or 

 turning his head on one side. Repeating the pushing, he may almost 

 bury his eyes before he reaches the worm, and sometimes he has to 

 give one or two lateral jerks, to obtain room to turn his beak into a 

 new direction, for he seems to be following his prey by scent under 

 ground. The soil is so light as to offer little resistance, being for the 

 most part imperfectly decomposed vegetable matter. He employed 

 himself in this worm-hunting for a considerable time, leisurely examin- 

 ing the whole heap. More than once he stretched himself, standing 

 on one leg, extending the other behind, and protruding his neck and 

 body in front to their utmost extent. But a partial stretching of the 

 leg behind was frequent, an action accompanied, in other birds, by an 

 extension of the corresponding wing. I had many opportunities of 

 observing that his sense of hearing is acute, for if I made the slightest 

 unusual noise, he stopped in whatever he was about, and remained 

 perfectly motionless for a few seconds. All the while the only sounds 

 heard from him were the scarcely audible rub made by the penetrat- 

 ing beak, the snapping of the mandibles as the worms were being 

 swallowed, or the sniffle as he brought his nostrils above ground after 

 each act of exploration. The light thrown just upon the extraordi- 

 nary-looking being, gave a very striking effect. His long legs and 

 beak, his unearthly figure, his quiet mysterious movements, just visi- 

 ble upon the black soil, made one think of warlocks and such "lang- 

 nebbit things;" and then again of the sailors in the New Zealand 

 yarn, who lay out to wait for a Moa, and on seeing it come out into 

 the light of the moon, were afraid to fire. 



When at length the Kiwi-kiwi left his hunting-ground, he came for- 

 ward to his larder and ate one or two bits of meat, apparently finding 

 them not by the eye, but by the sense of smell, for he did not at once 

 direct his beak to them, but kept dotting it about until it alighted on 

 them ; though at this time I think the light was not in his eyes. Soon 

 afterwards he went to the wainscot to my left hand, and ran back- 

 wards and forwards along it for a short distance, turning round awk- 

 wardly towards the wainscot, so that his beak clattered against it and 

 got in his way. He ran quicker and quicker, until his legs slipped 

 from under him in a sudden turn, and he fell sideways. He recovered 

 himself immediately, and trotted rapidly into his box. It is probable 

 that the light, or some movement 1 had made with it, had caused a 



