O NEST0EIDJ3. 



The bird from South Island has been separated under the name 

 of Nestor montanus; it was distinguished as being larger and 

 generally much brighter coloured than the bird from North Island. 

 Sir W. Buller does not now recognize it as distinct. Owing to 

 the want of a good series of specimens, properly sexed and from 

 reliable localities, I have not been able to make up my mind on the 

 subject ; for this reason I have kept the synonymy of the two forms 

 separate. 



The bird from George Sound to Milford Sound, on the west 

 coast of the South Island, has been separated under the name of 

 Nestor occhlentalis ; this form is only known from the two original 

 specimens obtained by Dr. Hector. The characters by which this 

 form was distinguished from N. meridional-is are the smaller 

 dimensions, the slender bill with the upper mandible produced to 

 a finer point, and the absence of spots on the inner webs of the 

 tail-feathers. The dimensions attributed to it are : — " Total length 

 16-5 inches, wing 10 - 5, tail 6, tarsus 1 ; bill, following curvature 

 2'25, along edge of lower mandible 1-5 " (Buller). Herr Reischek, 

 who advocates very strongly the distinction of the Nestor from the 

 Sounds, says that while the male is fiery red under the wings, the 

 female is golden yellow. The validity of this species is now rejected 

 even by Sir W. Buller; and not having myself seen a specimen of 

 this form, I have referred it to N. meridionalis, although I have 

 kept the synonymy separate. 



Nestor superbus no doubt is a yellowish-red variety of j\ r . meri- 

 dionaUs. 



«. Imm. (P) sk. New Zealand. Capt. Cook's Voyage. 



b. Ad. sk. New Zealand. Pamplin Coll. 



c-f. Ad. sk. New Zealand. Purchased. 



g, h. Ad. sk. New Zealand. Sir G. Grey [P.! 



i, k. Ad. sk. New Zealand. Dr. A. Sinclair, R.N. 



[P.]. 



I, m. c? $ ad. sk. New Zealand. Capt. Stokes [P.l. 



n, o. Ad. sk. Gould Coll. 



p. Ad. sk. New Zealand. Tweeddale Coll. 



q. Ad. sk. Dunediu, South Island. Hume Coll. 



r. Young sk. South Island, N. Zealand. Sir W. Buller [P.\ 

 s. Skeleton. 



3. Nestor esslingi. 



Nestor novse zelandia:, Bp. (nee Less.), Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, 



p. 155, n. 251 (sine descr.). 

 Nestor esslingi, SouancS, JRev. et May. de Zool. 1856, p. 223; Bp. 



Naumannia, 1856, Consp. Psitt. n. 264; Gould, B. Austr. Suppl. 



pi. 59 (part iii., 1859) ; G. B. Gr. List Psitt. Brit. Mus. p. 100 



(1859); id. Ibis, 1862, p. 230 ; Gould, Handb. B. Austr. ii. p. 552 



(1865) ; Finsch, Journ. f. Orn. 1867, p. 322 ; id. Papag. ii. 



p. 896 (1868); G. P. Gr. Hand-list, ii. p. 158, n. 8253 (1870); 



Finsch, Journ. f. Orn. 1870, p. 331 ; Bull, Tr. # Pr. N. Zeal. 



List. iii. p. 49 (1870) ; Mutt. Cat. B. New Zeal. p. 20 (1871) ; 



