The Strangest Bird
In a letter written from New Zealand to a small child in England I learn some new details about that almost extinct oddity the kiwi, now being revived. Thus: "Last week I was in Hastings and I saw three kiwis, father, mother and son. . . . A kiwi mother weighs about 5 lb., but lays an egg 1 lb. in weight. A White Leghorn hen weighs 5 lb. but lays an egg which is only 2 ounces in weight. When the egg hatches father kiwi looks after the chick and won't let mother have anything to do with it. . . . Kiwis have a long beak, as you know ; and right at the end of it are the two nostrils. At the other end—near the eyes—are whiskers like a cat's. The birds are practically blind in daylight and only come out at night. That is the story of the kiwi, one of the strangest birds in the world."
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