KIWI DRAWS CROWD.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20543, 19 February 1935, Page 1

KIWI DRAWS CROWD.

But Londoners Find Her a Night Bird. ONLY ONE IN EUROPE. Special—By Air Mail. LONDON, January 26. News that a kiwi (the first seen here for thirteen years) had arrived at the London Zoo from New Zealand, brought crowds of sightseers to Regent’s Park this week. But they were disappointed. The last kiwi that Britain is ever

likely to have seems doomed to live and die unseen except by the keeper and a privileged few visitors. She refuses to come out of her box except at dark. If the keeper tries to take her out of her box, he is merely kicked for his pains. She is so unsociable that, in spite of her importance, she is not likely to be given a name. She is a pretty little thing, the size of a small goose, with soft fawn and brown feathers, and hidden rudimentary wings which are useless for flight. Her beak, usually described as long, is really the smallest in the world, because her nostril is right down at the tip of the long mandibles. There is no reason why she should not live well and happily* so long as she eats nothing that disagrees with her If her digestion is upset, the keepers are helpless. Physic will not help her. That is why her meat is I minced and the tendons removed from I it. j She will probably produce eggs—i which are enormous for her size—but ' as there is no male bird there will be no baby kiwis. Neither will there be i any more grown-up kiwis. This one |is believed to be the only one in I Europe.