Bullee. — On the Ornithology of Neiv Zealand. 125 



Puffinus chlororhynchus, Lesson. 



I do not know what authority Professor Hutton had for 

 citing me thus, in a recent communication to the Zoological 

 Society of London: "Puffinus chlororhynchus, Lesson; Buller, 

 'Birds of New Zealand,' 2nd ed., vol. ii., p. 235 ; P. caneipes, 

 Cheeseman (fide Buller), Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxiii., p. 226; 

 not of Gould." On turning to Mr. T. F. Cheeseman's paper 

 I do not find any justification for the reference. As a matter 

 of fact I have never seen his specimens of this bird. I de- 

 scribed both species in my second edition of "The Birds of New 

 Zealand " (see pages 234 and 235), and am therefore familiar 

 with them. From the Kermadecs I received two examples of 

 Puffinus chlororhynchus, just as I was starting for England. 

 I took them with me, and, on submitting them to Mr. Salvin, 

 he confirmed my identification. 



Puffinus assimilis, Gould. (Allied Shearwater.) 



A fledgling which I have received from Sunday Island (one 

 of the Kermadecs) is a very pretty object. The plumage is as 

 in the adult, except that the longer wing-coverts and inner 

 secondaries are minutely tipped with white. But the long, 

 fluffy, dark-grey down still adheres to the sides of the body, 

 and as the bird squats it looks as if reposing in a luxurious 

 nest of down, which projects an inch or more from the body, 

 and has a charming effect. 



Anas chlorotis, Gray. (Brown Duck.) 



I am indebted to Captain Mair for another partial albino 

 of this species, which was shot by him on a lagoon near the 

 Manawatu Biver. It has the forehead, sides of the head, 

 nape, and hindneck white ; shoulders and mantle with white 

 feathers intermixed with the brown, the former prepon- 

 derating. Best of the plumage normal. 



A specimen which came into my possession some time ago 

 (now in the Bothschild Museum) has the sides of the head, 

 crown, hindhead, and upper part of neck pure white, varied 

 only by irregular patches of brown extending from the base of 

 the upper mandible to the eyes, and thence across the vertex. 

 Most of the small wing-coverts, also one secondary and one 

 primary in each wing, are pure white ; of which there are 

 also touches near the tips of the other quills. The rest of the 

 plumage is normal, except that the margins of the dorsal 

 feathers are somewhat lighter than in ordinary birds. 



Anas superciliosa, Gnielin. (Grey Duck.) 



I have already recorded some remarkable eccentricities in 

 the breeding of the common Grey Duck. I find the following 

 in one of my note-books : At one end of the little island of 



