112 Mr. W. L. Buller on the 



that day than on any other occasion ; and I attribute the pre- 

 sence of A. pennata to this circumstance. They were very 

 wary, and kept well out of harm's M'ay. 



5. Aquila N^viA (Gm.). Spotted Eagle. 



Met with at rare intervals throughout the desert, but must 

 certainly be called a scarce species, at all events at this time 

 of the year. We saw it in Palestine, and notably in the moun- 

 tains of Moab and valley of the Jordan. 



[To be continued.] 



XV. — Notes on the Ornithology of New Zealand. 

 By Walter L. Buller, Sc.D., F.L.S., &c. 



When I undertook to write a history of the birds of New 

 Zealand, I was not insensible to the difficulties of the task. 

 The field was a comparatively unbroken one ; and, with a few- 

 notable exceptions, the existing literature was confined to 

 diy lists of names and characters of species. In the prepa- 

 ration of my work I had therefore to rely mainly on the re- 

 sults of my own observations, extending over a period of many 

 years. At the same time I freely availed myself of the assis- 

 tance of Mr. Potts and other local observers, whose contribu- 

 tions were, in every instance, duly acknowledged. Ha\ing 

 produced a royal-quarto volume of some 400 pages, the bulk 

 of it being purely original matter, it was not to be exjDccted 

 that my statements on every point would pass unchallenged, 

 or that natui'alists who think for themselves would indorse 

 all my views. Besides, as I have explained in my preface, 

 our present knowledge of many of the rarer species is confes- 

 sedly imperfect, while in regard to all of them some new fact 

 is being constantly added to the general stock of information. 

 The notes and corrections of impartial observers in New Zea- 

 land will be very valuable to me, as they will assist in making 

 a future edition of my work more exhaustive and complete. 

 The first contiibution of this kind is Captain Hutton's paper, 

 which appeared in the last number of * The Ibis.^ But in at- 



