Hamilton. — Native Birds oj Petane, Hau-ke'n bay. 12ft 



which originally formed a steep slope to the raised beach below. 

 The remains were discovered at a depth of about 45 feet from 

 the surface of the slope, and about 40 feet in from the base, in 

 apparently undisturbed sandy loam. My own opinion is — from 

 having, thirty to forty years ago, seen remarkably large and 

 deep new rents and fissures in the sloping sides of our Hawke's 

 Bay hills, caused by earthquakes, many of them afterwards 

 closing up, — that anciently this little animal, at some such a 

 season, fell into one of those deep rents, and so perished. 



In conclusion, I may observe that Dr. Newman also says : — 

 " Three species of Sphenodon, unlike in form and colour, have 

 been discovered: 1. Sphenodon punctatum, black and spotted; 

 2. S. (unnamed), green and yellow ; 3. S. guntheri, lighter. 

 The dark form is found in the North, the intermediate at East 

 Cape Islet, and the lighter form in the South. S. punctatum 

 was the form so elaborately described by Dr. Gunther. The 

 other species have not been anatomically examined."* 



Dr. Gunther also mentions the possibility of there being two 

 species, although, from the smalluess of the material before 

 him at that time (18G7,) he does not support it. 



Such, however, being the case, and these (few) bones not 

 wholly agreeing with those of Sphenodon punctatum, I have 

 named this species Sphenodon diversum, but only provisionally, 

 as on further examination of both this and of better specimens, 

 and a closer comparison of them with the bones of those two 

 other specimens mentioned by Dr. Newman, may yet show that 

 these belong to one of those two species. 



P.S. — The ordinary meeting of the Hawke's Bay Philo- 

 sophical Institute, to be. held this evening, being the last for 

 this season and year, I have been very desirous of bringing this 

 paper before you, and have only been able to finish it this day. 



Art. XXIV. — A List of the Native Birds of the Petane District, 

 Hawke's Bay, with Notes and Observations. 



By A. Hamilton, of Petane. 

 [Read before the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute, 1885.] 



The district over which the birds occur, enumerated in the fol- 

 lowing paper, may be defined as the country lying between the 

 two rivers, the Tutaekuri and the Mohaka. Included between 

 these natural boundaries will be found a great diversity of 

 feeding ground for the various kinds of birds, the tidal flats and 

 estuaries of the Inner Harbour of Napier, the river-beds of the 



*l. c ., pp. 222, 223, 



