246 Mr. E. L. Layard^s Ornithological Notes 



I had a remarkably good opportunity of watching the motions 

 of a Cormorant. I was standing on the Brittomart battery^ over- 

 looking Auckland harbour, and the bird was fishing in the 

 shallow water below me, so that I could see him distinctly while 

 under water. On diving, he progressed by means of his wings 

 and webbed feet, using his tail as a rudder and an oar besides : 

 this fully accounts for the length and stiffness of this organ in 

 all these birds. He doubled as quick as any fish. I saw him 

 shoot out his neck and capture his prey several times, on which 

 he rose to the surface and swallowed it : he never pouched below 

 water. Another time, while standing on a high cliff, I saw a 

 Gannet {^ula australis) suddenly drop from a height into the clear 

 water ; and as he passed over a bed of sand, I could distinctly see 

 every movement. The bird shot down in a slanting direction, 

 wings half closed and tail compressed ; he slid through the 

 water as if propelled by the feet alone, his body swerving from 

 side to side with the violence of the exertion, seized a fish some 

 yards from the place of his entry, continued a slanting course 

 upwards, shot into the air with a bound, and resumed his flight 

 in a moment. 



It is singular that no Swallows visit New Zealand. It cannot 

 be that the islands are too distant from Australia, where several 

 Swallows abound, because two, if not three, species of Cuckoo 

 {Eudynamys taitensis and Chrysococcyx lucidus) perform the 

 journey in their annual migration twice every year. 



I left New Zealand on the 1st of August and sailed for 

 Sydney. The birds observed en route were in no wise remark- 

 able, the usual species found about the shores of New Zealand 

 extending over to the coast of Australia. Neither need I allude 

 to those seen between Sydney and Adelaide, or during a delightful 

 trip in quest of Kangaroos and Black Swans as far as Lakes Alex- 

 andrina and Albert. Sufiice it to say that the latter still swarm 

 on both lakes literally in hundreds, and that two fell before my 

 revolving rifle and are now safe in the Cape Museum. Of my 

 delight at seeing black Cockatoos and white Cockatoos, gaudy 

 Parrots and Wattle-birds, Semipalmated and Cereopsis Geese, in 

 their own country, I must leave you to judge, and pass on to 

 note the sea-fowl of our homeward voyage across a portion of 



