252 Transactions. — Zoology. 



which at irregular intervals become restless and trek* in 

 numbers to some other district, which rarely lies north or 

 south of the land which they have left. These excursions are 

 well known in the Northern Hemisphere, and even in New 

 Zealand we occasionally see wandering flocks of parrakeets. 

 These stragglers and wanderers must be carefully distinguished 

 from the true migrants which voluntarily perform two journeys 

 ■a year with great punctuality. 



The first notice that New Zealand participated in these 

 southerly migrations was by the Rev. W. Colenso, who stated, 

 in 1842, f that our shining cuckoo (Ghalcococcyx hicidus) was 

 migratory. Now, at the time this statement was made the 

 furthest distance across the sea which migratory birds were 

 known to fly was from Norway to Scotland and across the 

 eastern Mediterranean from Egypt to the Greek islands, in 

 each case a distance of about three hundred miles, which 

 necessitates some eleven hours of continuous flying. When, 

 therefore, it was said that the shining cuckoo, or bronze 

 cuckoo, of New Zealand traversed more than three times 

 that distance of ocean it is no wonder that the statement 

 was received with incredulity, and it was thought that colonial 

 naturalists had made a mistake. This appeared to be the 

 more probable because until quite lately New Zealand was 

 thought to be an oceanic island — that is, an island which had 

 never been connected with the mainland — and oceanic islands 

 have no migratory birds. The only exception to this rule is, 

 perhaps, Bermuda, for, according to Dr. A. R. Wallace, this 

 island has "several regular migrants."]: But he does not 

 distinguish clearly between migrants and stragglers, and 

 appears to think that all these birds have been blown out to 

 sea, and have not come voluntarily, in which case they cannot 

 be true migrants. 



But, however this may be, Dr. Wallace had somewhat 

 changed his opinion about New Zealand in 1880, when he 

 published his " Island Life," for in that book he calls it an 

 " anomalous island," without explaining his meaning of the 

 term, and says nothing about our migratory birds. 



In his " Geographical Distribution of Animals," published 

 in 1876, Dr. Wallace says, " Resident ornithologists believe 

 that Zosterops ccerulescens has found its way to New Zealand 

 within the last few years, and that the two cuckoos now 

 migrate annually, the one from Australia, the other from 

 some part of Polynesia, distances of more than a thousand 

 miles. These facts seem, however, to have been accepted on 



*A useful word, meaning a voluntary movement without any intention 

 of returning. 



t " Tasmanian Journal," vol. ii., p. 227. 

 ♦ " Island Life," p. 258. 



