72 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
be confined to the North Island, it cannot be the bird now exhibited. As 
A. australis is said to be the much rarer bird of the two, this skin is interest- 
ing. I may add that the gentleman from whom I purchased this skin told 
me that, although a wide search was being made through the bush over an 
extended area for a Professor of Otago University who had got lost, neither 
he nor his remains were ever found. 
The only Apteryx australis seen or obtained were the two mentioned, of 
which the skin of the male is now here. This evidence makes it pretty 
clear that at the end of 1888 and beginning of 1889 the various species of 
Apteryx were getting rare in the district around Lake Manipori. 
The Hon. Walter Rothschild, Ph.D., in Wovitates Zoologicw, vol. vi., 
December 1899, page 366 et seqg., says: “A. australts, although the first known 
form of the genus, is much rarer in collections than A. oweni and A. australis 
mantelli, and until quite recently it was by no means easy to procure a 
series of this bird.” “In 1888, Sir Walter Buller wrote as follows :—‘ Com- 
paratively few specimens of this species are now brought in by collectors in the 
South Island, whereas the supply of Apteryx oweni is undiminished ; and the 
conclusion is irresistible that Apteryx australis, perhaps the most interesting 
bird in the Southern Hemisphere, is fast becoming extinct. At present, they 
are evidently still common in certain places, and it is strange that this fact 
was overlooked by collectors, who have apparently never yet systematically 
explored the avifauna of all parts of their country.” 
To anyone who has had actual experience of the denseness of the bush and 
the difficulty of getting through it, the wonder is that so much has been done 
to explore a country that is remote, and difficult, almost beyond conception, 
to penetrate. I have cut my way into the bush, and, when in, wondered if I 
would ever be able to cut my way out. When at last I succeeded in doing 
so, 1 was wounded and bleeding in hands and face, and my clothes all torn, 
with a good deal of my exploring enthusiasm for the time being quenched. 
In November 1897, Mr James Dall captured the female A. australis, of 
which the skin is now exhibited, and it is a valuable addition to my 
collection. 
On the same page from which the last quotation is taken, the Hon. 
Walter Rothschild, Ph.D., says: “Sir W. Buller does not describe the exact 
distribution on the South Island. It would seem, however, that Apteryx 
australis is less fond of mountainous parts than most of the other Kiwis, and 
that it is only known from the southern parts of the South Island. It will 
be seen from my synonymy that I cannot separate the Stewart Island birds 
from typical A. australis.” 
Continuing on page 367, the author refers to the publications of Sir 
