Bullek. — On a New Species of Fern-bird. 127 



Art. V. — On a Neto Species of Fern-bird (Sphenoeacus) from 

 the Snares Islands ; with an Exhibition of Specimens. 



By Sir Walter L. Buller, K.C.M.G., D.Sc, F.K.S. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 25th July, 1894.} 



I have much pleasure in exhibiting this evening some speci- 

 mens of a new bird, which I have distinguished as Sphe- 

 noeacus caudatus. In order to secure the advantage of early 

 publication, I have sent my diaguosis of this species to our 

 London ornithological magazine, the Ibis ; but, as I think it 

 well to have everything of the kiud on record in the " Trans- 

 actions of the New Zealand Institute " for the convenience of 

 local workers, I append a copy of that paper. 



In a collection of birds made for me by Mr. H. H. Travers 

 on the last visit of the Government steamboat " Hinemoa " 

 to the various groups of islands adjacent to New Zealand, 

 there are a good many specimens of the Fern-bird or Utick, 

 obtained by him on the Snares, a group of islets lying about 

 seventy miles south of the southernmost extremity of New 

 Zealand. I have hitherto referred this island-form to Mr. G. 

 E. Gray's Sphenceacus fulvus. But the opportunity of examin- 

 ing so good a series (both male and female) has led me to 

 investigate the subject further, and I am now satisfied that 

 the species is distinct. 



Mr. G. E. Gray's description of Sphenoeacus fulvus ap- 

 peared in his very useful " List of the Birds of New Zea- 

 land and the adjacent Islands " which came out in the Ibis of 

 1862. 



To commence with, his bird was from New Zealand ; and, 

 although no locality is given, it cannot have come from the 

 Snares, inasmuch as there was no communication with these 

 small islands at that time. 



According to his description, Sphenoeacus fulvus, although 

 of a "rather larger size" than Sphenoeacus punctatus, has a 

 smaller bill and shorter tail. This is not the case with the 

 bird from the Snares, which is altogether appreciably larger, 

 the bill being more robust, and the tail so conspicuously dif- 

 ferent that I have named the species from that feature : that is 

 to say, instead of its being composed of Emu-like feathers 

 with disunited barbs, the webs are closely set and compact, 

 not differing in any way from the typical tail-feathers of the 

 extensive family to which this genus belongs. Mr. Gray says 

 of his bird that " the black streaks aud dots are less pro- 

 nounced than in Sphenceacus punctatus," which is not true of 

 this bird ; and he adds that " the abdomen is white, more or 

 less minutely dotted with black," a description which is 



