darker and more rufous colour, its longer tarsus, which is scutellated in front, its shorter toes and claws, which are horn-coloured; its smaller wings, which have much stronger and thicker quills; and also in having long straggling hairs on the face."
Mr. Bartlett tells us that, as far as he has been able to ascertain, all specimens of Apteryx Mantelli are from the Northern Island, and this is completely confirmed by Dr. von Hochstetter's observations, which are as follows:—
"In the northern districts of the Northern Island this species of Apteryx appears to have become quite extinct. But in the island called Houtourou, or Little Barrier Island, a small island, completely wooded, rising about 1000 feet above the sea level, and only accessible when the sea is quite calm, which is situated in the Gulf of Hauraki, near Auckland, it is said to be still tolerably common. In the inhabited portions of the southern districts of the Northern Island also, it is become nearly exterminated by men, dogs, and wild cats, and here is only to be found in the more inaccessible and less populous mountain-chains, that is in the wooded mountains between Cape Palliser and East Cape."
"But the inhabitants of the Northern Island speak also of two sorts of Kiwi, which they distinguish as Kiwi-nui (Large Kiwi) and Kiwi-iti (Small Kiwi). The Kiwi-nui is said to be found in the Tuhna district, west of Lake Taupo, and is in my opinion Apteryx Mantelli. Kiwi-iti may possibly be Apteryx Owenii, though I can give no certain information on this subject."
4. Apteryx maxima.
"The Fireman," Gould in Birds of Australia, sub. tab. 3, vol. vi.
Apteryx maxima, Bp. Compt. Rend. Acad. Sc.
"Roa-roa" of the natives of Southern Island.
The existence of a larger species of Apteryx in the Middle Island of New Zealand has long ago been affirmed, and though no specimens of this bird have yet reached Europe, the following remarks of Dr. von Hochstetter seem to leave no reasonable doubt of its actual existence:—
"Besides Apteryx Owenii a second larger species lives on the Middle Island, of which, although no examples have yet reached Europe, the existence is nevertheless quite certain. The natives distinguish this species not as a Kiwi, but as a Roa, because it is larger than A. Owenii (Roa meaning long or tall).
"John Rochfort, Provincial Surveyor in Nelson, who returned from an expedition to the western coast of the province while I was staying at Nelson, in his report, which appeared in the 'Nelson Examiner,' of August 24th, 1859, describes this species, which is said to be by no means uncommon in the Paparoa elevation, between the Grey and Buller rivers, in the following terms:—'A Kiwi about the size of a turkey, very powerful, having spurs on his feet, which, when attacked by a dog, defends himself so well as frequently to come off victorious.'
