254 Transactions. — Zoology. 



long in New Zealand, perhaps less than a year before they 

 were seen. 



The case of the white-eye (Zosterops carulescens) , alluded 

 to by Mr. Wallace, is rather different. The date of its first 

 occurrence in Otago is doubtful, but in 1856 it appeared on 

 both sides of Cook Strait in considerable numbers. Before 

 then it was unknown, both to the Europeans and the Maoris, 

 the latter calling it " tauhau," which means " a stranger." 

 In 1860-61 it had spread all over the South Island and the 

 southern parts of the North Island, but it did not reach Auck- 

 land until 1865. It has also spread to the Chatham Islands, 

 Snares, Auckland Islands, and Campbell Island. Evidently 

 it is a new arrival, for the restless habits of the bird forbid us 

 from thinking that it had remained for many years in Otago 

 without spreading northwards. I should call the white-eye 

 a wanderer, and not a straggler, for, unlike the others, it 

 crossed the ocean in sufficiently large numbers to establish 

 itself both in New Zealand and afterwards in the outlying 

 islands. Several others of our birds — especially some of the 

 herons, rails, and ducks — are also found in Australia ; and 

 these, we must assume, were at one time wanderers like the 

 white-eye. They also, at different times, crossed over the sea 

 .and became naturalised ; but long before the settlement of the 

 country by Europeans. 



These facts show us that the passage across the Tasman 

 Sea is possible, even for some small land-birds. The distance 

 as the crow flies is about a thousand miles, and it would take 

 a bird twenty-four to thirty-six hours to accomplish the dis- 

 tance, flying at its ordinary speed. 



We have next to see what is the evidence for thinking 

 that some of our birds are regular migrants ; and I will take 

 first the shore-birds. Of the living stream, already men- 

 tioned, which passes every year through the Malay Archi- 

 pelago to Australia, a small branch, consisting of three or 

 four species, leaves New Guinea for New Zealand. Of these 

 the godwit (Limosa nova-zealandim) is the best-known case. 

 These birds breed in eastern Siberia from June to the end of 

 July, and then leave. In September, and again in April, 

 they are found in China, some of them passing the winter 

 in the Island of Formosa. Others arrive in August or Sep- 

 tember in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, and the New 

 Hebrides from the north, and depart again northwards early 

 in May. Stragglers go to Samoa and Tonga. In New Zea- 

 land many birds arrive during October, November, and De- 

 cember, spread as far south as Stewart Island, and leave at 

 the end of March or the beginning of April. Some also visit 

 the Chatham Islands ; but they are not known to breed either 

 in New Zealand or in Australia. In New Zealand they arrive 



