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AN ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE BIRDS OF LORD 



HOWE AND NORFOLK ISLANDS. 



By Tom Irrdale. 



(Co77imicnicaied by A. F. Basset Hull J. 



My study of the avifauna of the Kermadec Islands necessitated 

 reference to literature dealing more especially with Norfolk and 

 Lord Howe Islands. I have received from my friend, Mr. A. F. 

 Basset Hull, his account of the Birds of Lord Howe and Norfolk 

 Islands{Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, 1909, Vol. xxxiv, pp.636 

 et seq.). 



As almost all the earlier accounts of these birds are contained 

 in scarce books, I have ventured to bring them together, and 

 offer this as an appendix to Mr. Hull's paper. Whilst so doing, 

 I have noted some discrepancies which seem to me to point to the 

 solution of some matters hitherto in dispute. 



There is a brief reference to pigeons, parrots, parroquets, and 

 rails in Cook's "Voyages,"(Vol, ii,, p. 148, 1777), in the account of 

 the discovery of Norfolk Island. In Hunter's " Historical Ac- 

 count of Port Jackson " <fec., 1793, Lieut. King's journal is repro- 

 duced. Regarding Norfolk Island, he writes " On our first 

 landing we found a great number of pigeons, which were so tame 

 tliat we knocked them down with sticks; but latterly they quitted 

 the low boughs, and generally harboured about the tops of the 

 pines. When plucked and drawn they weighed from three- 

 quarters to one pound each. The parrots are numerous, and the 

 ugliest bird of the kind I ever heard of; this added to the harsh- 

 ness of their note, makes them a very disagreeable bird. The 

 parroquets are entirely green, except a tuft on their head. 

 Hawks are numerous, and of two kinds, the grey and blue. . . . 

 Quails and curlews are plentiful, but very shy. The owls, which 



