"Sniff! Sniff!" (You actually can hear them sniff.)
There, he's found one! His bill is not only long, but bends rather easily and that's why, perhaps, he's able to follow up so closely the hints he gets from his nose as to the location of worms, for he usually brings the worm out whole, and not all pulled apart as the robins do it sometimes. He works in soft earth, where most worms are found, and generally drives his bill in up to his forehead. If all goes well he pulls it right out with the worm at the end; but if there is any likelihood of an accident, the kiwi gently moves his head and neck to and fro until he has the soil loosened up and so clears the way. Once the worm is fairly out of the ground, he throws up his head with a jerk and swallows it whole.
Because they roam about so much at night, the kiwis sleep much of the day. You'll find them in thickets or in among the forested hills, where they make their homes. Sometimes, however, you'll see one standing, leaning on his long bill, like a street-idler propping himself up with his cane. If you disturb him, he yawns, as if to say:
"Oh, these bores! Why can't they let a fellow alone?"
But don't you go too far and annoy him or he'll get real peevish and strike at you with his foot.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Kiwi drill the earth every day—or rather every night—in their search for worms, but Lady Kiwi does all the excavating when it comes to making the nest. This she does by digging a tunnel, generally under the roots of a tree fern. There she lays two eggs and then her family cares are practically over for the time being, since it is the male kiwi who does most of the setting.
MR. HORNBILL LOCKS THE DOOR
In Africa, Southern Asia, and the East Indies live the Hornbills. After the nest is built and the eggs laid in the hollow of some big tree like that, Mrs. Hornbill begins to set; and Mr. Hornbill, to protect her from enemies, walls up the nest with mud—all but that hole through which she puts her bill and gets food from the devoted father and husband.