. Lost and vanishing birds; being a record of some remarkable extinct species and a plea for some threatened forms . theworld. There can be but one ending, and sooneror later tlie weakest goes to the wall, and its racedies out completely. THE KIWIS {apterygid^) rpHE four species of Apteryx—called Ki-wis-*- by the Maoris, and a name by which they arenow more familiarly known—must be ranked withsome of the most curious and interesting ofexisting avine forms. They are birds of very localdistribution, being confined to New Zealand; and,being flightless, are not only becoming rare, but aredoubtless
. Lost and vanishing birds; being a record of some remarkable extinct species and a plea for some threatened forms . theworld. There can be but one ending, and sooneror later tlie weakest goes to the wall, and its racedies out completely. THE KIWIS {apterygid^) rpHE four species of Apteryx—called Ki-wis-*- by the Maoris, and a name by which they arenow more familiarly known—must be ranked withsome of the most curious and interesting ofexisting avine forms. They are birds of very localdistribution, being confined to New Zealand; and,being flightless, are not only becoming rare, but aredoubtless doomed to early extinction. This seemsinevitable in islands where the indigenous faunahas suffered so severely since their occupationby civilised man. These wonderful islands seemalmost like one of Natures storehouses, where havebeen preserved the relics of bygone ages, andwhere all these beautiful and curious creatureswould have been living their harmless lives inpeace down to the present day, had man notcolonised them, or even introduced so many exoticspecies with such disastrous results. Tlie Kiwis 266. KIWIS THE KIWIS 267 are the survivors of a race of birds that has ahnostentirely vanished from the earth—living examplesof an old-time fauna long faded in the mist ofages past and gone. These curious birds vary insize from that of a Bantam up to that of a smallTurkey. They appear to have neither wings nortail, and are clothed with dense hair-like plumage;they have long Snipe-like bills, the nostrils beingsituated almost at the tip. The nearest survivingrelations of the Kiwis are the Struthiones orOstriches and allied birds, but they differ fromthese in so many important respects as to warranttheir separation into a distinct order. The Kiwiswere not known to science until the early part ofthe present century. Their nocturnal habits willundoubtedly save them longer from extinction, asthey are thus far less likely to fall victims to manor rapacious animals. As previously
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirdsen, bookyear1898
