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amtipeum-, also some berries of the mairi and taiko (well-knotvn forest trees) and a 
nearly as large as an ordinary marble, which proved to be the egg of the great earthworm toke-tipa. 
Before we had made out the last-named thing I handed it for examination to my companion, who 
pressed it between his finger and thumb, when it burst, sending a jet of milky fluid into my eye, 
causing much smarting and subsequent irritation. The stomach of the other bird contained, besiies 
insect-remains, a large number of the hard kernels of the taiko berry ; and it seems to me that these 
are swallowed by the Kiwi (in lieu of quartz pebbles, which are not to be found in every loca i y) 
assist the process of digestion. I have found similar kernels in the stomachs of Kiwis received horn 
the Upper Wanganui. Among the comminuted matter I was able to detect some very minute lanc- 
shells. In the stomach of another which I opened afterwards I found a number of angular pieces o 
pebble ; and others contained the hard kernels of pokaka, miro, mairi, and hinau berries. 
The adult birds when taken from their holes were perfectly mute, but endeavoured to wound 
with their sharply-armed feet and made a snapping noise with their bills. 1 soon found t^^t * e 
safest mode of holding them was suspended by the bill. They then only struggle vainly and strike 
the air with their feet ; but if their rumps are allowed to touch the ground, so as to give them 
leverage, then they strike with effect, as I was not long in discovering. A strong adult hire is 
capable of inflicting a nasty scratch with its sharp claws by a downward stroke; and one of our 
natives showed me some skin-wounds, long ugly scratches on his arms and legs, inflicted on 
previous day by a large Kiwi which he had followed into a sort of cavern at the edge of a s leai 
and captured with his hands. . , 
Judring by analogy and the fovm of the bird, 1 felt persuaded that the Krwr was a hnno, e, 
hut our native attendants all denied it. We had undoubted proof of it, however, before we had 
finished. For the safe custody of our captive birds we had constructed a commodious cage, consistiu 
of karcao-vines well arched over, with both ends driven firmly into the ground, then laced toge 
with native flax and covered over with fern-fronds to keep out the daylight. Ihe buds see. t 
perfectly at home at once and commenced to eat the mmeed-up fresh meat supplied to the. . 
L birds continued silent, but the young ones emitted now and then, and especially at night, a oi 
sound not unlike the whimpering of a new-born kitten. The cage contained seven fine adult birds 
four females and three males. To our dismay in the morning we discovered that all the foimer had 
made their escape during the night through a burrow which undermined the kareae-vinos and passed 
right under an adjacent log, a distance of some eighteen inches The three male birds we.e st. m 
the cage. 'It is evident that the females alone perform the work of digging and preparing the lUg 
although as will presently appear, they take no part whatever in the incubation of the eggs. All the 
:mcrens of this sex collLJ by us at this season had the plumage of fte back "P - “ 
snd worn as to be quite valueless as skins, and were accordingly reserved for skeletons. The males 
on the other hand, while having, in every instance, the abdomen denuded of feathers 
sitting generally presented a smooth and undamaged plumage. In further proof of this adu 
CaTe’s invariably had their claws blunted, as the result of their scraping or digging operations, 
whereas the other sex (except very old birds) had these weapons perfectly sharp. 
I have already described how some of onr captives effected their escape on the J-y 
tunnelling under their cage. We had further evidence, after our return to Cambridge, of 
en»ineering skill. One of my birds— not a Pirongia captive, but one caught by t e na ivcs m 
Kawhia district and the largest specimen of Apteryx hullm I had ever seen— was placed witi le 
rest in a vacant stable which had been previously secured all around the sides to pieveii nirowiii„. 
To my astonishment, however, in the morning, I found that “ Madam Jumbo ’ (as we had christened 
this tee Kiwi) had, during the night, forced aside a heavy packing-case, removed a oose scantling 
stud, ddibei-ately tunnelled a passage through the hard clay foundation, and escaped from er p ace 
