Apteryx

"... the Kiwi (Apteryx) ... runs rapidly, but has no power of flight. Its body is covered with a thick coating of almost hair-like feathers. By feeling with the finger amongst these feathers one can detect the presence of a miniature wing hidden amongst them. It is so small as to be absolutely useless, although it is asserted that the kiwi tries its best to tuck its bill under it when it goes to sleep!"

"Distinctive features include a long and slightly curved bill with nostrils near the tip, a cone-shaped body (because of reduced pectoral development) that tapers markedly to a strong neck and comparatively small head, powerful muscular legs which make up one third of the total weight, small eyes, large ear apertures and many long tactile bristles about the face and base of the bill. The s, which end in a claw, are very small (40–50 ) and there is no external tail. The is loose and hair-like and does not change in form throughout life. Its neotenous characteristics of having weak barbs and lacking aftershafts gives kiwis a permanently shaggy appearance. Depending upon condition of the bird and time of year, plumage represents between 4.7 and 6.8 per cent of the body weight."

"We describe ' , a new species of kiwi based on a 1-million-year-old from shallow marine sediment in the . The fossil is very similar to the tarsometatarsi of living kiwi species, most closely resembling Apteryx rowi and A. mantelli in size and shape, but differs in being stouter, with proportionally narrower proximal and distal ends. The new fossil is the second oldest known record of kiwi. It demonstrates a relatively conservative kiwi since the ."