3422 Birds. 



sudden panic, or confused him ; but I have seen him running back- 

 wards and forwards against the wall when disturbed in the day-time. 

 In his box I presently heard his beak snapping at the rate of four or 

 five to a second, for several seconds together, as I had never heard it 

 before. In a few minutes he came out again, quite composed, and 

 strode about, following his old occupations. 



I have before alluded to his principal modes of progression, but 

 cannot hope to give an accurate idea of them. His fastest pace, if I 

 understand it rightly, is made up of a succession of rapid strides, caus- 

 ing the continuous advance of the body in a scarcely undulating line, 

 both feet never being off the ground at once. But a more ordinary 

 pace is a kind of elastic trot, which I have heard compared to that of 

 the Cassowary, and which is characterized by a slight approach to the 

 bounding action which most persons are familiar with in the Ratel, 

 but I cannot say that it is produced in the same way, for I have not 

 been able to analyze it satisfactorily in the disadvantageous circum- 

 stances under which I have generally seen it. In none of the paces 

 is there anything approaching to a strut or a play of the head and 

 neck, or to any of the more elegant modifications of terrestrial loco- 

 motion observable in other birds ; on the other hand, there is no wad- 

 dle, and nothing like a series of hops. Tail there is none to jerk or 

 spread ; the wings are invisible, and the feathers I have never seen to 

 be raised or lowered to give expression, unless perhaps those of the 

 neck. The principal variety is in the relative position of head, neck, 

 and body. The bird can run in the most elongated upright posture, 

 and generally does so when disturbed ; but the more contracted mode 

 of carrying himself, with the head below the level of the top of the 

 rounded back, is adopted for ordinary progression. 



All the time I was watching him he uttered no cry, nor have I or 

 the keepers ever heard him make any sound, except the growl, which 

 it would be too great a compliment to designate a war-cry. He did 

 not use his feet to scratch up or scrape the soil, and as he has never 

 done so, so far as I have heard, there appears little likelihood in the 

 account that he burrows in the ground in his native country — his long 

 beak would probably be in the way were he to attempt to do so. As 

 it has, 1 believe, elsewhere been suggested, his habits are probably in 

 many respects like those of the hedgehog, of which animal he has of- 

 ten put me in mind, and, like it, he may make his lair in corners in a 

 good thick cover, such as the fern-thickets of New Zealand afford. 



With respect to his food ; various kinds of insects have been found 

 in the stomach of those which been dissected, and our bird has been 



