Diana Knott, age 12, of Gaston, Indiana, for her question:

Are kiwis like other kinds of birds?

This drab little bird resembles a sorry looking chicken with an extra long bill, no wings and no tail. He is quite unlike other birds. You might mistake his long, hairy feathers for a coat of shaggy fur, and if you looked closely, you would see a pair of nostrils near the end of his thin, curved beak. He waddles along on huge feet with his nose to the ground, sniffing for bugs and wormy grubs in the soil.

The kiwis belong to the ratite group of flightless birds. They are distantly related to the ostrich and more closely related to the huge moa birds that once enjoyed life on the islands of New Zealand. For a time, the little kiwis were threatened with extinction and they are still very rare. They were hunted without mercy because their soft, long feathers made excellent trout flies for fisherman. Then they had to cope with weasel type animals imported to keep down the rabbit population and with mankind's prowling cats and dogs. Finally, New Zealanders passed laws to protect    . them from slaughter and now no one may remove a kiwi bird from his native land.