BuLLEK. — On New Zealand Birds. 79 



marked with yellow, and the sides of the face, foreneck, and 

 breast washed with yellow ; tail entirely yellow, slightly 

 clouded with grey. In other respects the plumage is 

 normal, but the bird is somewhat smaller than ordinary 

 specimens. 



A specimen received from Dunedin has the whole of the 

 abdomen washed with lemon-yellow ; also the vertex along 

 the edges of the crimson cap. A specimen which I lately shot 

 at Eketahuna, in the Forty-mile Bush, has the frontal and 

 uropygial spots delicately edged with yellow, and the tail- 

 feathers tipped with blue. 



Coturnix novse-zealandise, Quoy et Gaim. (The New Zea- 

 land Quail.) 



After closing my account of this species in ' ' The Birds of 

 New Zealand" (vol. i., pp. 225-228) — in which I had said, 

 "It is probably now extinct, for no specimen has been heard 

 of for at least twelve years " — I added a footnote to the effect 

 that, after the article had been sent to press, I had received 

 from the colony the welcome intelligence that the last refuge 

 of this expiring species had just been discovered at the Three 

 Kings, a group of small islands situated about thirty-two 

 miles west-north-west of Cape Maria van Diemen. The 

 " Hineinoa " had called in there on her return from annexing 

 the Kermadec Islands, and those who landed reported 

 having seen several bevies of New Zealand Quail, which were 

 described as being comparatively tame and fearless. Mr. 

 Cheeseman (who was one of the party on that occasion) visited 

 the islands again ; and, writing to me on the 10th June, 1890, 

 he said : "I obtained a nest with five eggs of the Quail when 

 at the Three Kings last summer. I almost trod upon the 

 bird: in fact, she rose between my feet; and glancing down- 

 wards I saw the eggs. I had no gun with me at the time, and 

 consequently the bird escaped. 1 spent one morning hunting 

 over the island with a gun, but never got the chance of a shot, 

 although I started three or four couples. They are by no 

 means plentiful. I do not think I saw over a dozen the three 

 days I spent on the island." 



The belief that this species yet survived, resting on 

 apparently good evidence, has, I am sorry to say, been rudely 

 shaken. Mr. Cheeseman kindly gave me, on my last visit to 

 Auckland, one of these eggs, and I saw at a glance that it was 

 not that of our New Zealand Quail, but of Syno'icus ajistralis, 

 the Brown Quail of Australia, which has been introduced into 

 New Zealand, and is now extremely plentiful in all parts of 

 the country. Its voluntaiy spread to the Three Kings is very 

 curious. 



