PLATE 



XLVI. 



FAMILY APTERYGI D^E. 



THIS is an off-shoot of the Struthious order of birds, and is strictly confined to New Zealand, where 

 four of five species have been identified. 



GENUS APTERYX (Shaw). 



BULLER, in his "History of the Birds of New Zealand," says: — "Apart from the special interest 

 attaching to species that are rapidly expiring, the Apterygine form is so entirely anomalous among 

 existing birds, that every minute particle of natural economy and life history appears to be worth recording. 



"This genus is remarkable as being a form of wingless birds — relics of that great extinct order 

 of Struthious birds of which the Dinornis and Palapteryx are fossil examples. This particular species 

 seems to be solely confined to New Zealand, where five species are already identified ; that one known as 

 A. Mantelli being accepted as the typical form. 



"It is nocturnal in its habits, and shows great preference for bosky groves and marshes. The days 

 are passed in heavy sleep when the bird rolls itself up like a ball in the deepest shade, its head buried 

 in the peculiar hair-like plumage of the body. It subsists chiefly on glow-worms, which it captures by 

 means of scent and touch, both of which faculties are highly developed. The eggs are abnormally large 

 for the size of the bird, and the male performs the task of incubation." 



APTERYX OWENI (Gould). 



LITTLE GREY KIWI, OR OWEN'S APTERYX. Genus: Afteryx. 



nnHE eminent Ornithologist, Mr. Buller, has so thoroughly exhausted every information supplied by 

 J- the best authorities upon the Apterygidce, and added so much by his own laborious researches, 

 that no option is left me but to quote him in extenso, acknowledging at the same time my obligation 

 to his genius. 



" The Grey Kiwi," he says, " is distributed over a great portion of the South Island, and in 

 some of the remote districts is still very abundant. It does not occur, however, in any part of the North 

 Island. 



" It frequents the woods, and being (like its congeners) nocturnal in its habits, must be sought 

 for in prostrate hollow trunks, natural holes or caverns among the roots of the large forest trees, and clefts 

 or fissures in the rocks. It breeds in these localities ; and Dr, Haast informs me that he has sometimes 

 taken its nest from under a dense tussock, or from the cavity formed by an over-hanging stone in the 

 slope of a wooded hill." It is very good eating, so much so that, unless measures are taken to preserve 

 it from the gastronomic proclivities of man, there is danger of its speedy extinction. 



