130 Sydney Porter—Notes on New Zealand Birds


to dig down. The same burrows appear to be used year after

year, as we found no freshly excavated ones, all the earth round

the holes being covered with a growth of lichen and moss.


Considering the weak feet and beak of the bird it is a marvel

how the birds manage to tunnel to such a depth. It is also wonderful

how these swift, long-winged birds can fly with impunity in the

thick forest, especially at night when the darkness is intense. We

found an adult bird in the breeding grounds; it was sitting under

a log and appeared to be unable to fly. It had possibly been

stunned and was unable to find its way to the edge of the cliff.

The birds, as they come in from the sea when the night has set in,

simply fall down through the dense forest vegetation to their nesting

holes, but being unable to rise from the dense vegetation have to

make their way to the edge of the cliff, often a great distance,

and from there throw themselves over into the air. As w r ith most

other Petrels, the legs are weak, the bird being unable to stand

upright so that it can only shuffle along with the aid of its

wings. Cook’s Petrel feeds mainly on minute marine life

commonly known under the name of “ Plankton ”.


Petrels are truly birds of mystery. The more one studies them,

the more mysterious and fascinating they become. A whole life¬

time would be all too short to study their strange and diverse

ways.


The North Island Kiwi ( Apteryx mantelli)


The Kiwi is so intimately associated with New Zealand, it

was one of my great ambitions wdien I reached the hospitable

shores of that country to see something of the life of these strange

birds. The more I pursued my objective, the more remote did my

chances of its realization become. After several weeks spent in

various parts of the North Island where the only large areas of

native forest were left, I began to realize how very rare these

birds had become. And it is little wonder, for no New Zealand

bird has to combat so many enemies and probably no bird is so

inadequately equipped for doing so. The Kiwi is one of the most

defenceless of all living birds, for in the distant ages this bird



