Buller. — On the Ornithology of Neiv Zealand. 119 



and killed the trees, the dead timber cannot long resist the 

 action of the weather, and one after another the " cedars " 

 topple over with the passing blast, till at length not a single 

 trunk remains standing, and an appearance is presented of 

 utter wreck and desolation. For the most part the trees are 

 of small size, but Captain Mair informs me he has often met 

 with them 4ft. in diameter at the base. Another tree that 

 adds to the novelty of these subalpine woods is the silver- 

 birch — a graceful and elegant tree of bright foliage, resembling 

 at a short distance the larch, and showing up conspicuously 

 amongst the black- and red-birch with which it mingles. In 

 these mountain solitudes, however, there is very little animal 

 life to engage the attention of the naturalist. On the summit 

 of Gentle Annie, in fine weather, I met with what appeared to 

 be a smaller and very bright variety of the Yellow Admiral 

 butterfly, but I could not catch any. I saw occasionally a 

 small lizard, which I referred to Tiliqua zealanclica. Bird- 

 life is scarce, except at certain seasons and in particular 

 localities. 



Ocydromus earli, Gray. (Brown Woodhen.) 



I have to exhibit to-night another remarkable albinism. 

 It is that of the Brown Woodhen of the South Island. The 

 forehead, face, foreneck, and breast are pure white ; five of the 

 quills in one wing and six in the other are entirely white ; 

 there are a few white feathers scattered among the wing- 

 coverts, and there is a large admixture of white in the plumage 

 of the abdomen, sides of the body, and flanks. The rest of 

 the plumage is normal. To judge from its large size, it is a 

 male bird. I obtained it, through a dealer, from the west 

 coast of the South Island. 



Ocydromus brachypterus, Lafr. (Black Woodhen.) 



Dr. Sharpe reports that he has examined the type spe- 

 cimen of GaUirallus brachypterus from the Caen Museum, for 

 the loan of which he was indebted to Professor Joyeux-Laffme, 

 the Director of that Museum. Dr. Sharpe points out that the 

 species has been the subject of much controversial opinion, 

 but that it is evidently the same as GaUirallus fuscus of 

 Du Bus, which must therefore be known as Ocydromus brachy- 

 pterus (Bull. B.O.C., Jan., 1873). This beiug so, the Buff 

 Woodhen, which I referred to Ocydromus brachypterus in my 

 second edition of "The Birds of New Zealand," becomes 

 Ocydromus hectori, Hutton (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. vi., 

 p. 110, 1874), or, perhaps more properly, Ocydromus troglo- 

 dytes, Gmelin. 



