THE KIWI

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22142, 22 June 1935, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE KIWI

By JESSIE BURGOYNE, Herekino. Original. (Aged 12.)

| One of New Zealand's most famous and most closely protected birds is the kiwi. There are many species of these birds, but this particular one in the North is the brown kiwi. This bird is about as big as a halfgrown turkey. Their bills are very long and pointed, and what is very peculiar is that their nostrils are at the end of the beak, this enables them to smell better. The food of the kiwi is chiefly worms or grubs, it puts its beak to the ground and sniffs till it smells a worm then it burys its bill into the soil and draws fourth the worm. Its legs are short and thick and for this reason it • can kick and run very fast. Kiwis lay two eggs which are white and about as big as three large turkey eggs. A very strange thing about the bird is that it is wingless n<TT

and is very often called tiie wingless one. In the olden days tie Maoris hunted the kiwi for food. They made snares from flax and set them in a place for the bird and then went with lights and drove it into the traps. At night these birds come out to get food but keep under cover all day because they are frightened of people killing them. The kiwi makes its nest in a hole in the ground or under rotten logs. When they hatch the eggs the little birds are usually left to mind themselves—that is one reason why the kiwi is rare! The male bird sits on the eggs whilo the female. brings the food to him, Vv hen protecting itself or young, the kiwi stands on one leg, opens its bill wide and kicks with mighty blows. Its song is a soft slow noise* gradually becoming louder and louder