"This species (.lifters from ./. Mantclh in having the facial hairs or feelers much shorter, the 

 rudimentary wing is very small, the tarsi are proportionately longer and more slender; the plumage is 

 Bofl and yielding bo the hand when passed along it, hut against the grain it is slightly rigid, although 

 it wants the stiffened shafts which give to the feathers of A. Mantvlli their distinguishing character. On 

 raising the plumage with the hand and viewing it laterally, it has very much the appearance of the thick 

 fur on the neck of a tabby cat. 



" The egg of this species is of a long elliptical form, measuring 4.3 inches in length hy 2.4 inches 

 in its widesl part. It is originally white, hut hecomes much stained or soiled during incubation, and some 

 examples have the shell traversed with thread-like excrescences, especially at the larger end. 



"Total length of male, 17. a inches; female, 20 inches. 



"Independently of the marked difference in size hetween the sexes, there is a considerable amount 

 of individual variation ; and adult specimens are sometimes met with of so small a size as even to suggest 

 the existence of another species. I have remarked this more particularly with examples received from 

 the southern portions of the South Island. 



"The ground-tints of the plumage vary in different birds; as a rule, however, the male is of a 

 somewhat darker shade than the female, and the plumage has a more banded or rayed character, while 

 the tips of the feathers on the upper parts are of a bright fulvous. 



" Head, throat, and neck, dull yellowish-brown, darker on nape; general plumage of the body, 

 light yellowish-brown, mottled all over and obscurely banded in a wavy manner with blackish-brown; the 

 rigid hair-like points of the feathers being bright fulvous ; underparts, paler, the plumage of the abdomen 

 becoming light fulvous obscurely barred with brown ; irides, black ; bill, dark coke colour ; legs and feet, 

 pale brown, the claws coke coloured with transparent tips. 



" The young. — Dull greyish-brown, obscurely mottled ; sides of the head and throat, greyish-white ; 

 the light tips of the feathers very conspicuous, having the appearance of small pencilled lines on a darker 

 ground, the produced hair-like filaments being entirely black. 



"Habitat: South Island, Xew Zealand." (Butter.) 



APTERYX AUSTRALIS (Buiier). 



SOUTH ISLAND KIWI. Genus: Apteryx. 



FOR a long time there was much uncertainty among ornithologists as to the true classification of this 

 bird, as it was frequently classed with A. Mantelli, the typical bird of this genus, with which 

 it was supposed to be identical. However, since the year 1870, Buller, the great New Zealand 

 naturalist, has set all doubt at rest on the disputed point by proving it to be a distinct species. He 



says : — 



" Since 1870 I have had an opportunity of examining a fine series of South Island Apteryxes 

 in the Canterbury Museum, and of comparing them with examples from the North Island, and I am 

 convinced that there are in reality two species of brown Apteryx, readily distinguishable from each other 

 by a very remarkable difference in the structure of their plumage. In the South Island kinds the 

 feathers of the upper parts are soft and yielding when stroked against the grain, whereas in the North 

 Island bird (A. Mantelli), owing to a peculiarity in the structure of the shaft, they have stiffened 

 points, and are harsh and prickly to the touch. This characteristic (apart from a slight difference in 

 the colour of the plumage), is constant in all the specimens I have examined, and I have no hesitation 



