APTERYX AUSTRALIS Shaw, juv.
(Native name, "Rowi.")
.....δια νύκτα.
I received the specimen here depicted in 1872. It was captured in May the same year, on the western slopes of Mount Cook. Mr. Potts states ('Transactions of the New-Zealand Institute,' vol. v. 1872, p. 187):— "The general colour of Apteryx australis, young, is greyish brown, streaked with black in the young and adult states; in some fine old birds a glint of golden chestnut edges part of the plumage. Not unfrequently specimens hare the aural feathers of dull yellowish white or grey, the same hoary tone of colour being sometimes found on the occiput, chin, neck, and front of the thighs. These marks are not confined to sex."
The same writer (vol. ii. p. 66, 1869) says of Apteryx australis:—"An egg received at the Canterbury Museum from Okarito or its neighbourhood is believed to be an undoubted specimen of this species. It arrived in a fresh state in November. It was white, much blunted at each end, and presented a very smooth surface. This enormous egg gives the following measurements—through the axis 5 inches 1 line, with a breadth of 3 inches 4 lines.'* Comparing these dimensions with the egg of Apteryx owenii next given (namely, 4 inches 6 lines by 2 inches 7 hues, though some are a trifle larger), we find that the great size of the egg is common to both species and to
