these the beaks of A. australis are more true to nature than those of A. owenii, which remain too much curved.
Mr. Potts says ('Transactions of the New-Zealand Institute,' p. 190): —
"They" (the young) "are quaint-looking little animals, with not too much of the savour of youth about them, being nearly exact miniatures of the adult. The well-known ornithic characteristic change of colour troubles them not. There is no young state of plumage Avith them, none of that half-pronounced variation in tone or tint of coloration which calls for the nice discrimination of practised ornithologists 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. Kiwis suffer from two races of parasites."
Dr. Buller, in his 'Birds of New Zealand,' p. 369, mentions one of my chicks of A. owenii as of "a uniform yellowish-brown colour, with the tips of the feathers lighter." He goes on, "Dr. J.F. Knox has a younger specimen, obtained at Nelson in November 1858—a Kiwi chick, just escaped from the egg, or rather, in all probability, taken from the egg. Weighed exactly 2 ounces; bill straight, soft, and measuring 1·25 inch in length; feathers few in number; wings exceedingly small, and no claw observable."
Another specimen of mine, lately received, most probably a male, has the beak rather less than an inch and a half long. I take this bird to have been just hatched.
