62 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Diomedea fuliginosa, Grnelin. (The Sooty Albatros.) 



Captain Fairchild, ever on the alert for new or interesting 

 birds, brought me a pair of these birds which he had shot from 

 an open boat a few miles north of Cape Palliser. He states 

 that during the many years he has been navigating on this 

 coast he has never before met with this Albatros so far north 

 as that. 



Majaqueus sequinoctialis, Linn. 



The carpenter of the " Hinemoa " has described to me a 

 large Petrel, of which he obtained two specimens at the Auck- 

 land Islands — of blackish-grey colour, with a triangular white 

 patch on the throat. Is not this M. cequinoctialis ? 



Thalassaeca glacialoides, Smith. (The Silvery-grey Petrel.) 



I have recently obtained a fine pair of this rare Petrel — 

 one bird coining from Nelson and the other from Otago. 



Anas chlorotis, Gray. (The Brown Duck.) 



This Duck is still very plentiful on the west coast of Welling- 

 ton. I have lately seen a flock of two hundred or more in the 

 Papaitonga Lake ; but they have become very shy, and it is 

 almost impossible to get near enough for a shot. During 

 the day they generally remain concealed in the dense beds of 

 raupo along the shores of the lake, coming out to feed in the 

 evening. In the cool hours of the day, however, they may 

 often be seen consorting in a large flock on the surface of the 

 water. 



A specimen which has lately come into my possession 

 has nearly the entire head pure-white, while the rest of the 

 plumage is normal. 



It is probably to a similar form that the following letter 

 from Captain Mair (June 30) relates : " For a whole week 

 before the shooting-season commenced we saw a pair of beau- 

 tiful Ducks or Teal with white heads. I went out several times 

 after them, but could not get nearer than 60 or 70 yards. 

 The head and neck was white, like the female Paradise Duck, 

 only it was a purer white, and the birds were small — hardly 

 bigger than the Black Widgeon. They were very conspicuous, 

 and could be noticed a quarter of a mile off. We saw them 

 nearly every clay for a fortnight. But unfortunately two men 

 came to my place [on the Manawatu Eiver] on Good Friday 

 and shot ail over it during my absence, and I fear they must 

 have killed or wounded these birds, for we have seen nothing 

 of them since. When observed these birds were always in 

 company with about a dozen Spoonbill Ducks." 



