JIG Mr. W. L. Jiullerow the 



My descriptiou of G. albofrontata was taken from the typo 

 specimen in the British Museum. 



Xenicus longipes. 



Captain Hutton is in error in stating that the specimens of 

 Xenicus longipes in my collection (Colonial Museum) were 

 wrongly determined. There is no such species as Xenicus 

 stokesii. The explanation of the strikingly incoiTcct figure 

 of X. longipes in the 'Voyage of the Erebus and Terror^ will 

 be found at page 116 of my ' Birds of New Zealand.' I may 

 mention that in company with the late Mr. G. R. Gray, I ex- 

 amined Forster's original (unfinished) drawing of this bird, 

 in which the bill is depicted as straight and the eye-circlet 

 almost wanting. Mr. Gray told me that his artist was re- 

 sponsible for the alterations in the published figure (which 

 represents a bird with an upturned bill like Acanthisitta) , and 

 that his own description of the species (Voy. Ereb. & Ter. 

 p. 4) was taken from the latter ! After we had thus sifted 

 the matter and compared specimens, Mr. Gray readily ad- 

 mitted that his Xenicus stokesii (Ibis, 1862, p. 219) would 

 not stand. 



MiRO T RAVE RSI. 



Captain Hutton misquotes me in a very unfair manner. 

 I never said that he had made any suggestion to me about 

 naming the bird. The specimen was kindly sent to me by 

 Dr. Hector without any restriction ; and I might have antici- 

 pated Captain Hutton by describing it under any other name. 

 Knowing how the case stood, however, I stated (p. 123) that 

 I had "much pleasure in adopting Captain Hutton's proposal" 

 to name the species in honour of the discoverer. At that time 

 no description of the bird had been published ; nor did I re- 

 ceive the proof of Captain Hutton's paj)er in the ' The Ibis ' 

 till after my account of Mii'o traversi had been printed oft'. 

 Part ii. of my work, containing this, was published in June ; 

 ' The Ibis ' a month later. 



Myiomoira macrocephala. 



Dr. Finsch agrees with me in opinion that Myiomoira dief- 

 fenbachii is not separable from M. macrocephala. 



