348 Transactions.— Zoologij . 



flections, passes under tlie eye, spreads over the ear-coverts, 

 and extends downwards almost to the shoulder. On the inner 

 flexure of each wing there is a patch of coppery-brown ; some 

 of the wing-coverts are brownish-grey, and the secondaries are 

 almost wholly of that colour, the innermost ones more or less 

 washed with coppery-brown. One of the tail-feathers is of the 

 normal colour, freckled towards the base with white, as are 

 several of the upper tail-coverts ; bill, eyelids, and feet bright 

 arterial red. 



Carpophaga chathamiensis, Eothschild. (Chatham Island 

 Wood-pigeon, j 



Mr. Hawkins writes, " The Pigeon on the Chatham Islands 

 is nearly extinct. I have been out every day for two weeks 

 and only got four, and one of those was spoilt in the shoot- 

 ing." 



Larus dominicanus, Licht. (Black-backed Gull.) 



As a contribution to the history of this well-known species, 

 the following note, furnished by Mr. Drew quite recently to 

 the Wanganui Chronicle, is worth preserving: "It is not at 

 all uncommon to see both kinds of our 8eagulls as pets on 

 lawns and gardens, but I think it very uncommon to find 

 them nesting and producing eggs in captivity. This singularly 

 rare ornithological occurrence has come under mv notice lately. 

 Mrs. Martm, of Wilson Street, has one of these pets; it is the 

 large Black-backed Gull (Larus dominicanus), or the Karoro of 

 the Maoris. The bird is quite tame — comes when called, &c. 

 — but during the w4iole nineteen years of its captivity has 

 never started egg-laying ; in fact, was always thought to be a 

 male bird. But this year, to the surprise of her mistress, she 

 has constructed a nicely-built nest, and in it lias laid three 

 beautiful spotted eggs. ' Maori ' — for so she is called — is fruit- 

 lessly sitting on her unfertile eggs — or, I should say, on two 

 of her own and one lien's egg, for the third egg "has been 

 taken from her and is now in the Museum. I wonder if she 

 has noticed the difference ! " 



Sterna vittata, Gm. (S. Nat., i., p. 609.) 



Mr. Bethune, of the " Hinemoa," has shown me a skin of 

 the Tern obtained by him at the Bounty Islands, for which 

 Mr. Henry Travers had proposed the name of Sterna hethunei. 

 It is a lovely bird, presenting a general resemblance to Sterna 

 mitarctica, but with a snow-white tail, and legs of arterial 

 red. But the bird is not new, having been first described and 

 named as far back as 1788 [op. cit.). Mr. Bethune states 

 that it occurs at the Snares and on Campbell Island as well as 

 on the Bounties. There were four specimens of this bird in 



