82 Transactions. — Zoology. 



assumed by this great Skua. It was at first taken for a Hawk 

 by all of us, its manner of flight, watchfulness of the ground 

 over which it flew, and habit of perching on spots command- 

 ing a wide view, all suggesting this impression. It was, indeed, 

 difficult to believe the evidence of my own senses when I found 

 a web-footed bird avoiding the water, and preying solely, so 

 far as my observation extended, upon other birds." 



Ocydronms earli, Gray. (The Brown Woodhen.) 



Captain Fairchild assures me that the same species of 

 Woodhen inhabits Solander Island, in Foveaux Strait, as that 

 found by him on Macquarie Island and identified by me as 

 Ocydromus earli. He saw a good many during his brief visit 

 to the island, and caught two, the skins of which were sent 

 to the Auckland Museum. 



Phalacrocorax carunculatus, Gmelin. (The Eough-faced 

 Shag.) 



Captain Fairchild brought me a fine specimen of this Shag 

 from Queen Charlotte Sound on the 11th instant ; and, as this 

 is the first adult bird of that species I have had an opportunity 

 of examining in the flesh, I give the actual measurements : 

 Extreme length, 32in. ; extent of wings, 49in. ; wing from 

 flexure, 12-75in. ; tail, Gin. ; bill, along the ridge 2-9in., along 

 the edge of lower mandible 3'75in. ; tarsus, 2-5in. ; longest 

 toe and claw, Sin. Irides clear hazel-grey; orbits of the eyes 

 naked, slightly raised, and of a beautiful blue colour. The bare 

 space surrounding the orbits and filling the lores has a 

 roughened surface as if covered with minute papillae, and is 

 of a greyish-brown colour ; on each side of the forehead these 

 papillas develope into small caruncles of a bright orange-yellow 

 colour. Bill whitish horn-colour, changing to dull-brown 

 on the ridge and towards the angles of the mouth, and shading 

 into bluish-grey towards the base of the lower mandible. 

 The naked gular sac or pouch, divided by a feathered stripe 

 running to a point near the junction of the rami, has a streaky 

 appearance, being of a dark greyish-green colour. The legs 

 are flesh-white, the hind part of the tarsi and the under- 

 surface of the toes being dull blackish-brown ; claws dark- 

 grey. 



This bird proved on dissection to be a male ; and, although 

 this is the height of the breeding-season, it exhibits nothing 

 in the form of a crest, not even a lengthening of the coronal 

 and occipital feathers. This confirms the view put forward 

 by me in "' The Birds of New Zealand " (vol. ii., pp. 153-160), 

 in opposition to Dr. Sclater and other leading authorities, that 

 this species is the true P. carunculatus of Latham, and must 

 not be confounded either with P. ivqjerialis, King (the crested 



