128 Transactions. — Zoology. 



equally inapplicable to this species. In Mr. Gray's bird the 

 white superciliary streak is more pronounced than in Sphc- 

 nozacus punctatus ; in this species it is less so. 



The form which I am now distinguishing appears to be 

 intermediate between Sphcnaiacus imnctatus of New Zealand 

 and Spthcnceacus rufescens, mihi, of the Chatham Islands ; and 

 its occurrence on the Snares is the more interesting as another 

 inhabitant of these islets is the Chatham Island Eobin (Miro 

 traversi, mihi), which has never yet been found in New Zea- 

 land. 



Sphenceacus caudatus, sp. nov. 



$ ad. similis S. punctato, sed paullo major : ubique lsetius 

 fulvescens, plumis vix ita distincte medialiter lineatis : pectore 

 etiam minus distincte maculato : remigibus rectricibusque 

 ochrascenti-fulvis ; cauda minus acuminata, scapis plumarum 

 haud nudis, sed ad ipsum plumiferis. Long, alee 2-65, caudae 

 3 - 5, rostri 05, tarsi 085. 



$ mari similis. 



Hab. Inss. Snares, maris Novi-Zelandici. 



This is the Sphcnaiacus fulvus of my "Birds of New Zea- 

 land" (2nd ed., vol. ii., p. 61). The specimens therein referred 

 to as having come from the South, without any locality being 

 assigned, must, I now feel assured, have come from the 

 Snares. They reached me through dealers, and it is almost 

 impossible in such cases to get reliable particulars of the kind. 



Art. VI. — Notes on the Flightless Duck of the Auckland 

 Islands (Nesonetta aucklandica). 



By Sir Walter L. Bulleb, K.C.M.G., D.Sc, F.B.S., &c. 



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



I have lately had an opportunity of examining a large series 

 of skins of the small Flightless Duck (Nesonetta aucklandica) 

 collected by Mr. H. H. Travers at the Auckland Islands, to 

 which this species is strictly confined. The sexes in the adult 

 state do not differ much from each other, both exhibiting the 

 delicate reflections on the plumage of the upper surface ; but 

 the male may be distinguished by its darker head and neck, 

 by the black under tail-coverts, and by a greater abundance 

 of vermiculated markings on the sides of the body. The 

 young male, as I discovered, has exactly similar plumage to 

 the adult female, the head being of the same brown colour as 



