No. 483] 



MAT IXC AMOM; lillUh^ 



165 



more or less (•los<>ly allic-d to the (Mueus. Indeed, I am unable to 

 state whether a ca^-owarv is, l.y nature, polygamous or monoga- 

 mous. Their (^ggs have dcscrihed l)ut aj)])arent]y not their 

 mating habits. None of the above-named wrilcrs describe the 

 breeding habits of the kiwis i A p/rri/.r oin tii, iiiiinh//i and aiis- 

 trah's) and I am unable from jKM-sonal observation to state whether 

 they are by habit monogamous or polygamous , >ee Sir W aher 

 BuUer, Newton, Pyeraft, and other writers), 'idiese curious birds, 

 now being rapidly exterminated, are probably moiionaiiions. a^ Dr. 

 Claus says of them, "The kiwis are noctiu-nal \nv>U. w hich by day 

 remain concealed in holes in tlie eartli and n(> at night to seek 

 their food. They feed on insect-hir\ a- and worms, live in pairs, 

 and at the breeding time, which seems to come twice in the year, 

 they lay, in holes s('rai)e(i in the earth, a sirikinnly kirge egg, 

 which, according to some, is incubated l>y the femah\ and accord- 

 ing to others by the male and fenuile in turn.'" ' 



So far as I have been al)le to ascertain, the tinan)ous (("lyp- 

 turidje) are monogamous birds, while they a»ociate togetlier in 

 flocks during those times of the year when ihey arc not l)reeding. 

 Newton does not mention this in the " I )ictionaiy." and at this 

 writing I do not hapj)en to ha\c Hartlftt"s paper at hand (P. Z. 



AH water birds of the main groups ai)pear to be monogamous 

 in the matter of their mating. There appear to be no excej)tions 

 to this rule to be met with among the several suborders of the 

 Pygopodes, Impennes, Tubitiar(vs, Steganojxxles, Lonijipemies, 

 Alcae, and the Chionides. .Vs we know, these oi',,ii|» ((.main 

 the divers, the penguins, the petrels, the p(-lican-> and \arious 

 allies, the gulls, and the ank tribe. Nearly all tlioe forms are 

 low in the scal(\ and in all w(> meet with near relatives among 



