APTERYX AUSTRALIS, Shaw.

Kiwi Kiwi.

Face and throat greyish brown; all the remainder of the plumage consisting of long lanceolate hair-like feathers,

of a chestnut brown colour, margined on each side with blackish brown ;

; on the lower part of the breast and
belly the feathers are lighter than those of the upper surface, and become of a grey tint; Dill yellowish horn

colour, its base beset with numerous long hairs; feet yellowish brown.
Total length, about 30 inches; bill, 62; tarsi, 3.

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Apteryx Australis, Shaw, Nat. Misc., vol. xxiv. Pls. 1057, 1058 ; and Gen. Zool. vol. xiii. p.71. Less. Traité d’ Orn,
p. 12. Cuv. Régne Anim. t.i. p. 498, note. Yarrell in Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. i. 1 Mle eh AG).

Apteryx, Temm. Man. d’ Orn. 2nd Edit. Anal. p. exiv.

Apterous Penguin, Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. x. p. 394.

Dromiceius Nove-Zelandie, Less. Man. t. ii. p. 210,

 

For our first knowledge of this bird we are indebted to the late Dr. Shaw, to whom the specimen figured by
him in the Naturalist’s Miscellany was presented by Captain Barclay, of the ship Providence, who brought it from
New Zealand about 1812. Dr. Shaw’s figure was accompanied by a detailed drawing of the bill, foot, and
rudimentary wing of the natural size. After Dr. Shaw’s death, his at that time unique specimen -passed
into the possession of the Earl of Derby, then Lord Stanley. His Lordship’s being a private collection, and
no other specimen having been seen either on the continent or in England, the existence of the species was
doubted by naturalists generally for upwards of twenty years. M. Temminck it is true placed it with
hesitation in an order to which he gave the title of Jvertes, comprehending the present bird and the Dodo;
but other naturalists were inclined to deny its existence altogether. The history of the bird remained in this
state until June 1833, when my friend Mr. Yarrell published in the Transactions of the Zoological Society
an interesting paper, detailing all that had been previously made known respecting it, and fully established
it among accredited species: this paper was accompanied by a figure from the original specimen still in the
possession of the Earl of Derby: within the last few months I have had the good fortune to become
acquainted with four additional specimens*, and to obtain some further information respecting the history
of the species. ee
A mature consideration of the form and structure of this most remarkable bird, leads me to assign it with
little hesitation to the family of Struthioncde; and my reasons for so doing will, I think, be obvious to
every one who will examine and compare the species with the members of that group. The essai
characters in which it differs consists in the elongated form of the bill, in the shortness of the tarsi, and in the
possession of a sharp spur, terminating a posterior rudimentary toe. Regarding the Ostrich as the species
to which it is least nearly related, we find in the Emu and Rhea, a much nearer approach, not only in the
more lengthened form of the bill of the latter, but also in the situation of the OSHS, which in the Rhea are
placed nearer the tip than in any other species of the group, the Apteryx excepted ; in fact, when we compare
the bills of these two birds, it is very evident that both are formed on one plan, that of the Apteryx being an
elongated representative of the Rkea, with the nostrils placed at the extreme tip: in vai) these birds there
is the same peculiar elevated horny cere or fold. The tarsi are much shorter, and the nails of the toes much
more curved than in the Rhea; but the scaly covering of these parts in both birds is precisely the same ; and
it may be further observed that the number of toes increase as we pass on from the Ostrich, there being

* Two of these, from which my figures are taken, were presented to the Zoological Society by the New Zealand Association: the Society also pos-
wi 2

es a third, but imperfect specimen, which was presented by Alexander MacLeay, Esq., of Sydney ; and the fourth has been recently added to
sess 2

the collection of the Karl of Derby.