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The Kiwi
The Kiwi is a remarkable flightless bird
from New Zealand. It is about the size of a chicken
but is semi-nocturnal and is rarely seen. It has hair
like feathers and tiny useless wings but it can run
very fast and has sharp claws with which to defend itself.
The kiwi mainly eats worms, grubs and
insects anthough it sometimes eats other things like
berries. It is mainly a forest bird. It nests in hollows
or burrows which are excavated by the male. The nest
contains one or two eggs which are remarkable for their
enormous size. They may be a quarter of the weight of
the female bird. This is proportionately the largest
egg laid by any bird in the world.
The egg takes eleven weeks to hatch and
the chick is not fed in the nest but survives on its
remarkable supply of yolk within its body. After a little
over a week its leaves the nest to start foraging for
food under the guidance of its father.
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