Birds. 3607 



of water appeared directly to attract his attention, and the next in- 

 stant we had audible proof of the situation of his nostrils, by seeing 

 him with the tip of his beak only in the water, and hearing the noise 

 he made by blowing bubbles through them. The water seemed to af- 

 ford him great gratification, and after blowing bubbles in it for some 

 time, now only with the tip of his beak submerged, but at other times 

 with nearly the whole of it plunged beneath the surface, he proceeded 

 to drink copiously ; apparently opening his beak under water to fill 

 it, then closing it and holding it horizontally while he swallowed the 

 draught, this last operation being distinctly visible when the light of 

 the " bull's-eye " lantern, with which we were provided, was turned 

 on him. He next made the tour of his apartment and ate a few earth- 

 worms, his high action, by alternately elevating and depressing his 

 body, having a singular effect as he deliberately walked along. About 

 this time the Weka set up a shriek, beginning like the bark of a pup- 

 py, and ending like the clamour of a stone-curlew on the wing ; of 

 this noise the Kiwi took no notice, nor did he subsequently take heed 

 of the squeaking and rustling of a mouse which was in the ostrich's 

 loose box : but the keeper's footsteps on the paving-stones outside 

 alarmed him, and he returned with gravity to his box ; thus finishing 

 the first act of the play. 



The second act was not long in opening. After a few sniffles, and 

 a slight snapping of the beak, the Kiwi-kiwi again stood before us, 

 advancing in an almost erect posture to the front of the den, when, 

 standing upright, he turned round quickly once or twice, giving me 

 much the idea of its being the action analogous to that of any ordina- 

 rily constructed bird, say, a duck, when it flaps its wings after having 

 come out of the water, and it certainly struck me at the time that if I 

 could have discerned those appendages in the Apteryx, I should have 

 seen them in motion.* After perambulating the den a few times, he 

 returned to the water, and bubbled, splashed, and drank for some mi- 

 nutes, using the same motions as I have before described; the splash- 

 ing being principally performed by sharply moving his bill in a lateral 

 direction through the water with a kind of jerk. He then proceeded 

 to his store of earth-worms, which were in an earthen pot, and not 

 turned out on the top of the turf as when Mr. Wolley last saw them, 



* I think it right to say here that neither of my companions noticed this feat, but 

 I am sure I am not deceived as to in what it consisted ; and I think it probable that 

 as the bird at the time was standing near the bars, and just in front of me, at one end 

 of the cage, it was almost out of the range of their sight ; it certainly was in deep 

 shadow. 



