394 Dr. O. Finscli's Ornithohyical 



everywhere, Fringilla carduelis even in the alpine region near 

 Mount Cook. Emberiza citrinella I met with in Waikato. 

 Our Common Starling was common in Dunedin and Christ- 

 church ; but I did not see it in Wellington and Wanganui, 

 where its place is taken by the noisy Indian Maina [Acrido- 

 theres ti'istis), which quarrelsome species will drive out the 

 Starling everywhere, as it even ejects House-Pigeons from 

 their homes. Of other foreign species I remember at this mo- 

 ment only to have seen (or, rather, heard the voice of) a species 

 of Gymnorhina not far from Wanganui. The scarcity of native 

 game in New Zealand has led the sportsman to take a great 

 interest in the importation of foreign game-birds ; and some 

 of these are at present thoroughly acclimatized, and are now 

 quite as plentiful as in their native countries. Above all, our 

 Pheasant abounds, and takes a regular place in the poultry- 

 market. What I shot near Wanganui was not the true Pha- 

 sianus colchicus, but a hybrid between this species and P. 

 mongolicus ; so that apparently several different species of 

 Pheasants have been introduced. The importation of our 

 Partridge has been tried, but without much success ; but 

 Calif ornian and Australian Quails {Callipepla calif ornica and 

 Sy?ioecus pectoralis) thrive better. The latter, in many places, 

 is considered to be the true native Quail by the settlers, who 

 have lost all knowledge of the real native Quail [Coturnix 

 novae-zealandice) , as this species is almost extinct and may be 

 reckoned amongst the rarest of birds peculiar to the island — 

 much more rare than the Kiwi or Huia [Heteralocha) . The 

 latter is confined to a very limited locality in the environs of 

 Wellington. Here also Pogonornis cinda is to be found, but 

 is far more rare than the Huia; in fact, next to the Quail, 

 Pogonornis is the rarest bird of Ncav Zealand, and, if I re- 

 member rightly, only two specimens are preserved in all the 

 Museums in New Zealand. I mention this only to contra- 

 dict the eroneous but prevailing idea, that the Kiwi and 

 Kakapo {Stringops) are the rarest birds in this colony. I 

 had not time to seek for Huias myself; but 1 got some by the 

 kindness of Dr. Hector, through native hunters, who under- 

 stand much better how to find and to shoot these birds than 



