22 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY, 
but in vain. Months passed, and the museum was inconsolable, 
never hoping to seeits apteryx again, when one night the watchman’s 
dog, perceiving something behind a grating in the cellar of some new 
buildings which were being erected, began barking furiously. A 
search was made and the truant was discovered. How it had 
survived the damp and cold, or what it had had to eat but rejected 
garbage, is still a mystery; but the fact remains that the bird was 
in the pink of condition, and looked better than it had ever done 
before. Nevertheless, its cage has now been strengthened.” 
Incubation.—On this branch in *‘ Gould’s Birds” there are seme 
strange stories, mostly derived from the natives of New Zealand, 
which do not appear to have been verified by any one upon whom 
reliance could be placed. ‘The following is an account of the incu- 
bation of birds in London, as it occurred under the observation of 
Mr. Bartlett, superintendent of the Zoological Gardens. It is taken 
from the ‘‘ Proctedings for 1868,” page 329. In 1851 Lieut.-Governor 
Eyre presented to the society a female apteryx mantelli. In 1859 
she laid her first egg, and continued to lay one or two every year for 
some time: in 1865 a male bird was presented by Mr. H. Slade. 
Two years later these birds showed symptoms of a desire to pair: 
this was known by the loud calling of the male, which was answered 
by the female in a much louder and shorter note. They were par- 
ticularly noisy during the night, but altogether silent in the daytime. 
On Jan. 2nd, 1868, the first egg was laid, and for a day or more the 
female remained on the egg, but as soon as she quitted the nest the 
male bird took to it, and remained constantly sitting. On Feb. 7th 
the female taking the nest, the second egg was laid, and she left the 
nest as soon as the egg was deposited. The two birds now occupied 
the two opposite corners of the room in which they were kept, the 
male on the two eggs in the nest under the straw, the female con- 
cealed in her corner, also under a bundle of straw placed against the 
wall. During the time of incubation they ceased to call at night, in 
fact they were perfectly silent and kept apart. The eggs were in a 
hollow formed on the ground in the earth and straw, and placed 
lengthwise side by side. The male bird lay across them, his narrow 
body appearing not sufficiently broad to cover them in any other 
way ; the ends of the eggs could be seen projecting from the sides of 
the bird. The male continued to sit in the most persevering manner 
until April 25th, at which time he was much exhausted and left the 
nest. bn the eggs being examined there were no traces of young 
birds. Notwithstanding the failure of reproducing, Mr. Bartlett 
witnessed sufficient to show that the mode of reproduction of the 
apteryx does not differ essentially from that of the allied forms—the 
mooruk, cassowary, emu and rhea, in all cases that have come under 
his observation, the male bird only sits. 

