Letters, Announcements, cVc. 145 



tioned informed me that Notornis is very easily caught by dogs. 

 But dogs which run wild in the neighbourhood of the Maori 

 habitations do not appear to have extended their range to the 

 south-west portion of the island, where Notornis is found. Its 

 immunity hitherto from the attacks of the wild dog in its local 

 habitat seems, in connexion with the causes of repression spe- 

 cified, to explain its rather peculiarly limited range at the pre- 

 sent time. 



Strigops (the " Ground-Parrot '' proper), though incapable 

 of taking wing, has, in its climbing-powers, the means of pre- 

 serving itself from extermination by dogs, and is still found 

 nearer than Notornis to the haunts of the wild dog. The 

 "Weka" {Ocydromus) , another of the New Zealand " gmund- 

 birds," is still nearly universal there ; but by means of its 

 agility and speed of foot and its comparatively small size, 

 which favours it in eluding pursuit in dense jungle, it can suc- 

 cessfully defy dogs in scrubby and flax-covered country, although 

 it cannot climb. Its large size, slow speed, and incapacity for 

 flying or climbing render Notornis peculiarly liable to exter- 

 mination by dogs in districts occupied by them. If the gold- 

 diggings be found to extend over the soc;;h- western portion of 

 the island, the diggers, and especially the dogs, will be likely 

 very soon to increase the rarity of Notornis, if not to exterminate 

 it altogether. 



I am, &c., 



D. Mackav. 



Museum, Ilaslar, January 3rd, 1867. 



Sir,— In 'The Ibis' for October 1866, in Mr. Blyth's Com- 

 mentary on Dr. Jerdou's ' Birds of India,' it is stated (p. 343) 

 that " all the various forms of Cuculidce " have cseca. Now in 

 Ckryscoccyx cupreus I find them absent, and the sketch I eneIo.se 

 (which is a copy of an original one I made some years since) 

 will show there is no vestige of them. I found the gizzard to 

 contain the hairs of caterpillars, as in our common Cuckoo. 



I wish also to remark on a statement or two in Prof. Owen's 

 second volume of ' Comparative Anatomy,' which is briefly 

 noticed in the same Number. At p. 170 of his book the author 



N, S. VOL, III. L 



