23 



7. SCELOGLAUX ALBIFACIES. 



Plate 1. 



Athene albifacies, Gray, anted, ]j. 2; Finsch, J. f. 0. 1872, 

 p. 95, d 1814, p. 177. 



Sceloglaux albifacies, ^kZ/c?-, I. c, j). 21, _^jZ. 3.,/. 2. 



The original edition of the present work contains the 

 first description of this remarkable Owl, tliough the accom- 

 ])anying pLite by llr. Wolf is now for the first time 

 issued. In the meanwhile Dr. Buller has published a 

 good figure of the s]iecies. The name albifacies is not 

 very appropriate for this species ; only one of the three in 

 the British Museum has a light-coloured aspect, and I 

 suspect that the young birds are darl^er visaged tlian the 

 adults to judge from the living examples in the possession 

 of Mr. Ct. Dawson Eowley, both of which were quite young 

 and had dusky faces when I saw them. 



8. Scops nov^ zealandle. 



Scops novK zealaudite, Bj). Consp. i, p. 47. 



I feel constrained to include the present bird, although 

 on somewhat negative evidence. Dr. Buller will not admit 

 it into his work, and this unfortunate little Owl has at 

 present no abode in the New Zealand list, notwithstanding 

 its orthodox title. The type is at present in Leiden, and 

 although no one has proved the presence of a Sco'ps in New 

 Zealand, the species, as Professor Schlegel remarked to me, 

 seems to agree with no other member of the genus, and 

 may, after all, really come from the country whose name it 

 bears. At the close of his article on the two larger Owls 

 Dr. Buller writes: — "The natives are acquainted with 

 another species, which they describe as being very diminu- 

 tive in size and strictly arboreal in its habits. This is no 

 doubt the bird indicated by EUman as Strix 2}arvissima 

 {Zoolorjid, 1861). Mr. J. D. Emys informed me that he 

 once captured an Owl ' standing only live inches high,' 

 and that it was perfectly tame and gentle. Mr. Potts 

 records, on hearsay evidence, several instances of the 

 occurrenfe, in Canterbury, of an Owl ' about the size of a 

 Kingfisher.' This bird may prove to be the same as 

 Bonaparte's Scops novce zcalandice, as suggested by Dr. 

 Finsch ; but, till it has been luore accurately determined, it 

 is impossible to give it a place in our list of species." 



The follriwiug is a description of the type which I made 

 in the Leiden Museum : — 



Adult (Type of species). — Upper sm-face brown, very 

 minutely vermiculated with darker brown, sometimes 

 forming an in-egular spot, and varied with a few wa^y 

 lines of dull fuh'ous, rather brighter and more ochrnceous 

 on the outer margin of the scapulars, wliere the alternate 

 bars of dark brown and fulvous are a little more regular ; 

 greater wing-coverts mottled with ashy-grey, especially 

 towards the tips ; primaries darker brown, externally 

 notched with fulvous, these marks tolerably distinct, 

 except towards tiie tips, where tliey are obscured by 

 gi'eyish mottling, the secondaries more ashy-brown mottled 

 profusely with darker brown and with indications of five 

 lighter and more fulvous bars across them ; under surface 



of wing uniform brown with slight ashy mottlings towards 

 the tip, the under wing-coverts almost entirely ochraceous, 

 this shade extending some way along the inner web of the 

 quills, whicli are also barred with greyish-brown ; tail 

 brown, mottled with darker brown, witli indications of 

 seven fulvescent bands ; crown and hind neck as well as 

 sides of face and ear-tufts darker brown than the back ; 

 lores and ear-coverts rufescent ; an indistinct superciliary 

 line indicated by fulvous mottling, which also appears on 

 the inner webs of the ear-tufts ; round the hind neck a 

 narrow collar produced by fulvous mottling; under surface 

 of body rufous ochre, becoming paler and more fulvous on 

 the abdomen, thighs and under tail-coverts ; feathers of 

 lower breast mesially streaked -witli blackish-brown, a little 

 varied with whitish and mottled with darker brown ; the 

 throat and chest blacker, much mottled with irregular wavy 

 lines of this colour, especially on the sides of the Ijreast. 

 Total length 10 inches, culmen 0-8.5, wing 7'0, tail 3'8, 

 tarsus 1"2, middle toe G'8, ear-tufts 11. 



9. Aluco delicatula. 



Dr. Finsch is inclined to include this species on the 

 authority of the late Mr. G. E. Gray, but I fancy some 

 mistake has occurred, as I cannot find any mention in 

 print of the latter stating that this Owl is an iidiabitant of 

 New Zealand, and the British ]\Iuseum contains no speci- 

 men from that country. Dr. Buller is tlierefore right, in 

 my opinion, in refusing it a place in his work. 



Order, PSITTACI. 



Family, Steisgopid.^5. 



10. Stkixgops habroptilus. 



Plate 7. 



Stringops habroptilus. Gray ; Buller, B. A^. Zeal., 'p. 27, 



pi. 4; hmch, J. /. 0. 1872, p. 9(3, ct 1874, p. 178. 



In the foregoing list of Mr. Gray's this species does riot 

 appear, and the description was not published till 1847. 

 Tlie accompanying plate, which is now issued for the first 

 time, was prepared to accompany the original work, but as 

 Dr. Buller has given an excellent illustration of the typical 

 bird (/. c.) I have here had Mr. Wolf's original figure 

 modified by Mr. Willis, tiie artist, to represent the 

 Stringops 'jreyi of Mr. G. E. Gray, which has never liefore 

 been figured. The bird in the back-ground represents the 

 normal coloration, and I am not quite convinced that S. 

 ijrcyi is not specifically distinct from S. hohroptilns. 

 However, Dr. Buller regai-ds it as a variety only, and he 

 will have proved his point if no fiuther specimens tui'u up. 



Family, Psittacid.e. 



11. Nestor meridioxalis. 



Nestor meridionalis, Gray, anted, p. 9 ; Buller, 1. c, p. 40, 

 pi. 5, /. 1 : Fimch, J. f. 0. 1872, p. 98, et 1874, p. 179. 



