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relapse into a state of apparent lethargy. They have naturally a peculiar earthy smell ; and the place 
in which they are confined has acquired a very perceptible odour. On taking my dog to a spot in the 
garden where the Kiwis had been probing for worms on the previous day, he took up the scent very 
readily, and followed it without any check. I am informed by old Kiwi-hunters that the bird is 
easily ‘ brought to earth,’ and captured by dogs accustomed to the work, and that in former times a 
hundred or more have been taken in this way in the course of a single night. My birds have shown 
a preference for earthworms ; but they will also partake readily of minced liver, or pounded flesh of 
any sort. For the first few days of their captivity the old birds ate very sparingly of this new diet ; 
but the young ones were not so fastidious, eagerly devouring any thing that was offered them.” 
The Kiwi is in some measure compensated for the absence of wings by its swiftness 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 tlie ground. It often yawns when disturbed in the 
daytime, gaping its mandibles in a very grotesque manner. When provoked it erects the body, and, 
raising the foot to the breast, strikes downwards with considerable force and rapidity, thus using its 
sharp and powerful claws as weapons of defence. The story of its striking the ground with its feet 
to bring the earthworms to the surface, which appears to have gained currency among naturalists, is 
as fanciful as the statement of a well-known author that it is capable of “ inflicting a dangerous blow, 
sometimes even killing a dog!” 
While hunting for its food the bird makes a continual sniffing 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 called into action. That the 
sense of touch is highly developed seems quite certain, because the bird, although it may not be 
audibly sniffing, will always first touch an object with the point of its bill, whether in the act of 
feeding or of 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. The sniffing sound to which I have referred 
is heard only when the Kiwi is in the act of feeding or hunting for food ; but I have sometimes 
observed the bird touching the ground close to or immediately round a worm which it had dropped 
without being able to And it. I have remarked, moreover, that the Kiwi will pick up a worm or piece 
of meat as readily from the bottom of a vessel filled with water as from the ground, never seizing it, 
however, till it has first touched it with its bill in the manner described. It is probable that, in 
addition to a highly developed olfactory power, there is a delicate nervous sensitiveness in the 
terminal enlargement of the upper mandible. 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 
it 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. 
In preparing my specimens I was astonished at the toughness of the skin, even in the very young 
birds ; and the late Mr. Uav'son Rowley, writing of the dried skin, sent me the following interesting 
jjQ^e ; “ I have a portion of the skin of an adult male Apteryx before me ; this is so thick that a 
pair of light shoes might easily be made of it. In setting up these birds, the toughness of the skin 
VOL. II. 2 ® 
