30 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Phalacrocorax novse-hollandise, Stephens. (Sea-shag.) 



When I was at Papaitonga last Christmas the mill-hands 

 were felling some lofty rimu-tx'ees on the northern side of the 

 lake — 15 or 20 chains from the water — on which the Sea- 

 shags have for many years past had their "rookery." I 

 regretted very much to see these trees come down, but they 

 were beyond my boundary, and I could not interfere. The 

 young birds had not yet quitted their nests, although they 

 were well advanced — covered with thick black down, and with 

 quills and tail-feathers several inches long. 



Phalacrocorax varius, Gmelin. (Pied Shag.) 



On my last visit to the Bay of Islands — in September — I 

 was struck with the scantiness of bird-life. Here and there a 

 solitary Sea-gull was to be seen floating on the surface of the 

 water,"^and as we steamed up to Eussell in the tender we saw 

 a few Pied Shags : that was all. Of the latter there was a 

 young one near the landing-wharf which continued to fish 

 within a few yards of the boat during the whole of our visit, 

 lasting a couple of hours. Timing it with a stop-watch, I 

 found that each dive occupied, as a rule, thirty seconds. 



Dysporus serrator, Gray. (Gannet.) 



Captain Waller, of the " Anglian," tells me that in muggy 

 weather he always finds the Gannet on the wing an infaihble 

 sign that he is nearing the Three Kings. On one occasion, 

 however, he saw three of them when upwards of two hundred 

 miles from land, and the occurrence was so unusual that he 

 made an entry of it in his log. 



Tachypetes minor, Gmelin. (Small Frigate-bird.) 



Among the collection of New Zealand birds in the Colonial 

 Museum is a locally mounted specimen of this bird, but I 

 have been unable to ascertain its hisiory. The only other 

 New-Zealand-killed one, so far as we know, is in the Nelson 

 Museum, where it has been for nearly forty years. 



Tachypetes aquila, Linn. (Great Frigate-bird.) 



Of this closely allied species the Colonial Museum contains 

 the specimen captured at Castle Point and mentioned in my 

 "Birds of New Zealand" (vol. ii., p. 185). I have recorded 

 another which killed itself against one of the southern light- 

 houses, and was brought to me by Captain Fairchiid. 



This "vulture of the sea" has a tropical range, and is 

 comparatively abundant in the Fiji Islands. Whilst staying 

 with my friend Captain Langdale, at Wakaya, I had frequent 

 opportunities of observing it soaring overhead, singly or in 

 pairs, its beautiful white throat gleaming in the sunlight, and 



