The oldest tree extant of the "immemorial wood" cannot be more than six hundred years, and by far the greater number are of completely modern growth. A considerable revenue is produced from the fir-cones of the forest, extending twenty-five miles in length, and averaging from one to three in breadth. Several oaks, moreover, are interspersed among its pines, while the undergrowth is composed partly of scrubby juniper and pyracanthus, its bright orange berries just ripe at the season of our visit. A variety of lizards, partly brown, but more frequently green, coursed out of the open into the thickets on our approach; and green frogs also, alarmed thereby, leaped from the mud banks into the pools. Notwithstanding, the general aspect of the Pineta was completely English, and its Flora likewise, inasmuch as, with the exception of a yellow-flowering Carduus, it consisted of only British plants, purple and blue scabious, wild Antirrhinum, Scilla autumnalis, &c. With its plantations, therefore, and occasional glades, it was no dark and frowning forest that met our view; and as we traversed the sandy regions, now embowered in wood, where formerly the Roman fleet rode at anchor, it appeared no longer strange that, as the soil was so similar to that of the Lido, the entomological Fauna also should be so entirely alike in both localities,—the Lido-littus, -all of the later Empire and a bygone age. F. A. WALKer. Notes on the Birds of New Zealand. (Continued from Zool. S. S. 3942.) Kiwi (Apteryx Oweni, Gould). As far as we are aware, the habits of the straightbilled kiwi (also called the "gray kiwi," and "blue-hen" of diggers) do not differ greatly from those of the rowi, or, perhaps we might safely say, from those of other species of Apteryx, due allowance being made for local influences. The long, nearly straight bill of the kiwi is used in a similar manner to that of the rowi, and in dried specimens is of a dark horn-colour, or at times resembles yellowish ivory, but in life is of a flesh-colour, pale almost to whiteness, the minute blood-vessels of its delicate membranous covering imparting a pinkish tinge to its distal end, and a perfect network of minute veins traverse its entire length from the point to the soft bristly integument which clothes its base. About eight lines above the truncated knob of the upper mandible these minute vessels assume a stellate arrangement, from which their delicate ramifications appear to issue. We have observed that the double linear impression on the upper mandible is not always constant, as in some specimens the groove deepens into a single line as sharply defined as though marked by a scribing tool. The lower mandible is also furnished with similar minute blood-vessels, most densely crowded towards the point. On the deflected tip of the upper mandible is an impression which in some birds is nearly circular; others have this mark of almost angular shape. It is probable that a great degree of sensibility is conferred on the elongated bill by its investing membrane, so that the movements of insect prey are readily followed. We can see no reason for mistaking this elaborately organized bill for an instrument to be used like a pick for digging into hard soil, and we doubt if the kiwi ever leaves the shelter of the bush. The tongue is very short but muscular, of angular shape, and can be used in crushing insects against the flat opposed surface of the upper mandible, as the strong muscle on the lower surface gives a great degree of strength. The visual organs, which are feebly developed, are placed so as to command the movements of the upper mandible, and are protected by stiffish cilia; the ears are well developed, and as an aid in discovering food are next in importance to the olfactories. The long straggling hairs or weak bristles, planted amongst the feathers of the anterior part of the head, fulfil the useful office of protecting the eyes and head from injury; they may also guide or regulate the force of the thrust given by the bill. In life a perfect guard of feelers, they form a simple kind of defence, in strict harmony with the natural instinct of the kiwi-that of retiring cautiousness. The tarsi and feet, described as yellowish brown in life, are often as white as those of thorough-bred Dorking fowls, though now and then specimens will show a darkish tinge that stains the edges of the tarsal scales. The under surface of the feet are well protected by cushions; the claws, slightly curved, are sharp at their points, admirable for scratching, yet they are not shaped like those of the domestic fowl, which are adapted for traversing hard ground as well as for that purpose. The robust tarsi, defended by hard scales, are articulated with the tibiæ by very strong joints, which must give to the kiwi great power of leaping or jumping, and thus enable it to scale fallen trees and search along their upper surfaces for insects. The hind toes and claws help in maintaining the position of the bird when fossicking about the prostrate trunks, strengthening the hold, and preventing it from slipping to the ground when reaching down. The cry of the kiwi is not heard till nightfall, or, as the digger expresses it technically but truthfully, "not till the night shift comes on." We have paid great attention to the call; to us it sounded like "kvee, kvee, kvee," repeated sometimes as many as twenty times in succession, with moderate haste; we noticed that the cry had scarcely ceased before it was thus replied to, "kurr, kurr, kurr.” These calls were heard through the night, commencing some time after sun-down and ceasing about three o'clock in the morning; we never heard a call after dawn. The breeding season extends over several months; eggs have been obtained on the West Coast during a great part of the year. The home is to be found usually beneath the spreading roots of trees, in logs, or under rocks, and will contain sometimes one or two eggs or young, but never more. The nests are found on the bare soil, and are never constructed of dried fern and grasses. The pair of birds usually remain together during some months and share the labours of incubation, but the male apparently allows much of the labour of rearing the young to devolve on the female. The young have been found at a short distance from the family abodein a nursery, in fact. They are quaint-looking little animals, with not too much of the savour of youth about them, being nearly exact miniatures of the adult; that well known ornithic characteristic, change of colour, troubles them not; there is no young state of plumage with them-none of that half-pronounced variation in tone, or tint of colouration, which calls for the nice discrimination of the practised ornithologist when questions of age have to be settled. They assume not seasonal distinctions of dress; in winter and summer they adhere to their sober colours with quaker-like pertinacity. The separate lodging is probably not set up till the young are well able to forage for themselves under the guidance and SECOND SERIES-VOL. IX. 2 A protection of the old birds; the family party is not necessarily broken up, because all its members do not abide together in one place of hiding and rest. There does not appear to be any reason for believing kiwis to be great travellers; ample supplies of food are to be obtained by fossicking around their homes. Judging from tracks, they appear to resort to the same holes for some time, probably till the family has consumed the more favourite kinds of food in the vicinity. Kiwis seem to adopt the same squatting posture as the rowi, and are quite as lethargic, suffering themselves to be captured without any other resistance than a feeble struggle, in which, at worst, a scratch or two would punish incautious handling. As for defence, the domestic cock or hen would be terrible "as a raging lion" compared to this harmless bush fowl. They suffer from at least two races of parasites. December 17.— Took a kiwi out of a log; very white skin, legs and feet: it was infested with a species of Pediculus,* sandy in colour, and remarkably active in its movements; immediately below the chin hung a slatish coloured species of Acarus, which maintained a very firm hold and was dislodged with difficulty. Sometimes the kiwi has been found very high up on the ranges, not very far below the snow it is said, but always in the bush. December 24th. Took a kiwi from a rather deep hole beneath a fragment of rock, just within the scrub-bush, about a mile westward of the Franz Joseph glacier; about two miles further to the west, near the north bank of the Waio river, found a pair of kiwis in a hole under the roots of a large konine (Fuchsia excorticata). This pair of birds gave the following measurements: It will be observed from these dimensions that the female slightly exceeds the male in size, and that this disparity is most noticeable in the length of the bill. It is also commonly said that the female kiwi is the larger bird, and dissection of several specimens confirmed * I shall esteem it a great favour if any of my New Zealand correspondents will send me parasites of any suckler or bird: they may be dropped into small phials containing a dessert-spoonful of sawdust and a morsel of cyanide of potassium as big as a pea.-E. Newman. this statement. In all cases we found the gizzards to contain a very considerable quantity of rough pieces of slate and quartz, also rarely a few very hard seeds. These stony fragments in a fair average gizzard weighed as much as 114 grains, five of the largest pieces weighing about five grains each. We believe the hard seeds had not been picked up for food, but for the purpose of trituration, probably in some locality where bits of stone were rarely met with. When the kiwi is deprived of its skin or feathers, immediately below the lower neck on each side at the base of the wings, there may be noticed a rather angular-shaped protuberance not unlike the mamma of certain animals. These are adipose deposits of very firm texture, which we incline to believe are of material assistance during incubation. The difficulty that has been felt in understanding how an egg so disproportionate in size can be successfully hatched by a bird not larger than an ordinary barn-door fowl has led to many curious surmises. According to Mr. Docherty, the kiwi, with her egg deposited on the bare soil, proceeds with the labour of incubation by arranging the egg between the feet, its axis or long diameter being kept parallel to the body. Now, the keelless sternum being laid on the egg, with the præpectoral masses of fat pressing on its oval sweep between the bilge and blunt end, may it not be inferred that its monstrous bulk is thus kept from slipping, while receiving its due supply of heat? Being easily turned by rotary motion initiated perhaps by the feet, the warmth derived from these fatty tumours also makes up at one end of the egg for the entire covering of the opposite extremity by the body of the bird, and thus equalizes its temperature to a certain extent. The kiwi, when relieved by its mate, or when resuming its sitting attitude after food search, would but have to reverse the position previously maintained, in order to distribute over the entire surface of the egg a fair and equal amount of heat. The sitting pose assumed by various species of birds is in itself a study not devoid of interest either to the naturalist or the physiologist. It is probable that, as in the case of struthious birds, the gizzard-stones are disgorged, but we have no evidence thereof; it would be most interesting to ascertain if such regurgitation takes place, also if any correlation could be traced to seasonal or sexual conditions. The fecund kiwi within a brief period has to furnish a large supply of calcareous material for the formation of the egg-shell: amongst gallinaceous birds in some cases the requisite supply of lime may be as considerable in |