Buller. — Notes on New Zealand Birds. 57 



kinds of green succulent leaves, holding them in its foot when 

 feeding, after the manner of a parrot. He was fond of water, 

 drinking freely, but rarely using it for bathing as other birds 

 do. Nevertheless his plumage was always in a clean and 

 silky condition. On presenting to him a large bluebottle fly, 

 he held it to his perch in the manner described, deliberately 

 tore off one wing and then the other, tasted its flavour, and 

 immediately dropped it. I tried him with other insects, but 

 always with the same result. It is obvious, therefore, that 

 this bird is not insectivorous, which is somewhat singular, 

 seeing how omnivorous the members of the Crow family gene- 

 rally are. 



Heteralocha acutirostris, Gould. (The Huia.) 



On page 17 of " The Birds of New Zealand" I have repre- 

 sented in a woodcut a very curious deformity in the bill of a 

 Huia, in which the upper mandible had assumed the form of 

 an erect corkscrew, like the spiral horn of the Strepsiceros. 

 This specimen had been obtained in the Forty-mile Bush, and 

 was minutely described afterwards by the Rev. W. Colenso, 

 F.K.S.,in our Transactions (vol. xix., pp. 140-145). Recently 

 a specimen from the same district has been shown to me 

 in which a still more singular malformation presents itself 

 (see fig. 1, Plate V.). This bird, like the last-mentioned, is 

 an adult female, in perfect plumage ; and, whilst the lower 

 mandible has retained its ordinary form and proportions (ex- 

 cept being a little shorter than usual), the upper has assumed 

 the form of a perfect circle, resembling an overgrown boar's 

 tusk in miniature. The lower mandible is unaffected by this, 

 except that at the point of contact its cutting-edge has an 

 even notch or depression produced by the constant friction. 



Myiomoira toitoi, Lesson. (The North Island Tomtit.) 



I have to record another albino of this species from Wanga- 

 nui. Body-plumage white, purest on the head, clouded with 

 black on the sides of the neck, breast, and back ; quills 

 black with white tips ; wing-coverts almost entirely white ; 

 innermost tail-feathers white with a grey shade, and the rest 

 normal ; bill and legs pale-yellow. 



In Mr. Drew's collection at Wanganui there is a pure 

 albino of this species, presenting not a single dark feather. 



Miro traversi, Buller. (The Black Robin.) 



I have received several more specimens of this bird from 

 the Snares. The sexes appear to be absolutely alike in plu- 

 mage. 



