34 Capt. F. W. Hutton on certain 



Both our species of Cormorants are found sparingly about 

 the brackish lakes of this district ; Graculus sinensis, the rarer 

 of the two, frequents the Amblangodde Lake, a large sheet of 

 water mentioned more than once in this paper. 



Note. — Since commencing these notes, which have been 

 much delayed owing to pressure of work, illness, and two 

 changes of stations, I have added to my list of liaptores, by 

 observing Pandion haliaetus as late as the 3rd of May making 

 its way northward, and by procuring specimens of Accipitei' 

 virgatus in the low country fifteen miles from Galle. This 

 latter is a rare species in Ceylon ; and the Osprey has only, 

 so far as I am aware, been seen once before in these parts. 



In visiting a large tract of hill-forest, hitherto unexplored, 

 lying in the subsidiary ranges of the Morowa-Korle group 

 of mountains, and attaining a height of about 1700 feet, I 

 found Eulabes 'ptilogenys as low down as 600 feet above the 

 sea-level, and Zosterops ceylonensis as low as 1500 feet. 



GaUe, lOth May, 1873. 



IV. — Notes on certain Birds of New Zealand. 

 By Capt. F. W. Hutton. 



Although fully recognizing the value to ornithologists of Dr. 

 Buller's handsome work on the birds of New Zealand, espe- 

 cially in his determination of Thinornis rossii as the young of 

 T. nov(B-zealandi(B, and in his identification of Gallinarjo pusilla 

 with G. aucklandica, I wish to point out what I consider to be 

 certain inaccuracies that I have noticed in it, and also to record 

 my dissent from some of the opinions expressed therein. 



I have in these notes followed Dr. Buller^s nomenclature, 

 but I do not agree with it in all cases. 



SCELOGLAUX ALBIPACIES. 



I cannot agree with Dr. Bidler's remark that '' the extinc- 

 tion of the native rat has been followed by the almost total dis- 

 appearance of this singular bird,'^ nor with the conclusion that 

 he draws from it; for I have elsewhere pointed out (Trans. 

 N. Z. Inst. V. p. 230) that there is no evidence that an indi- 



