66 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
thus describes his observations upon the habits of A. mantelli:—“ The Kiwi 
is in some measure compensated for the absence of wings by its swift- 
ness of foot. When running it makes wide strides and carries the body in 
an oblique position, with the neck stretched to its full extent and inclined 
forwards. In the twilight it moves about cautiously and as noiselessly as a 
rat, to which, indeed, at this time it bears some outward resemblance. In a 
quiescent posture the body generally assumes a perfectly rotund appearance, 
and it sometimes, but only rarely, supports itself by resting the point of its 
bill on the ground. It often yawns when disturbed in the day-time, gaping 
its mandibles in a very grotesque manner. When provoked, it erects its body, 
and, raising the foot to the breast, strikes downward with considerable force 
and rapidity, thus using its sharp and powerful claws as weapons of defence. . . . 
While hunting for its food, the bird makes a continual snifflimg sound 
through the nostrils, which are placed at the extremity of the upper mandible. 
Whether it is guided as much by touch as by smell, I cannot safely say ; 
but it appears to me that both senses are used in the action. That the 
sense of touch is highly developed seems quite certain, because the bird, 
although it may not be audibly sniffling, will always first touch. an object 
with the point of its bill, whether in the act of feeding or surveying the 
ground, and when shut up in a cage, or confined in a room, it may be heard, 
all through the night, tapping softly at the walls. ... It is interesting to 
watch the bird in a state of freedom, foraging for worms which constitute its 
principal food; it moves about with a slow action of the body ; and the long 
flexible bill is driven into the soft ground, generally home to the very root, 
and is either immediately withdrawn with a worm held at the extreme tip of 
the mandibles, or is gently moved to and fro by an action of the head and 
neck, the body of the bird being perfectly steady. It is amusing to observe 
the extreme care and deliberation with which the bird draws the worm from 
its hiding-place, coaxing it out, as it were, by degrees, instead of pulling 
roughly or breaking it. On getting the worm fairly out of the ground, it 
throws up its head with a jerk, and swallows it whole.” 
Sir W. Buller, also at page 315, Birds of New Zealand, 2nd ed., vol. ii., gives 
a most interesting description of the A. mantelli and its habits and nesting 
places, in an account of a Kiwi hunt in the Pirongia Ranges. This account 
is reprinted in ovitates Zoologice, vol. vi., December 1899, pp. 373-377. 
Whether all the Kiwi family act in exactly the same way may be doubted, 
and we may be sure that at least to some extent the food of the species varies. 
Those restricted to limited areas, some of them at considerable distances from 
the coast and at fairly high elevations, can hardly be expected to live upon 
the same diet as birds living upon the lower ground, 
