CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand  In the thousand or so years since humans discovered the remote islands that make up New Zealand, three-quarters of the indigenous bird species have been driven to extinction, and until recently, it looked as if the kiwi could follow.

That would be a loss for the environment, but also for national pride; the kiwi, a small flightless bird that nests in burrows, is the national bird and has become something of an improbable national symbol. The country’s dollar is named after it, and New Zealand’s residents are often labeled “kiwis” by outsiders.

Now, environmentalists are becoming more hopeful that a project started in 1994 will pull the beady-eyed bird back from the brink.

Kiwi numbers have declined rapidly over the past century, as populations struggled with the twin threats of shrinking habitat and expanding legions of new predators.