36 Mr. T. H Potts on Birds lately added to 



head, and neck dull brown, darkest in a line from the gape to 

 and immediately behind the ear, and on the nape; upper sur- 

 face irregularly barred with blackish bi-own and rich fulvous, 

 each feather crossed with marks of dark brown and fulvous 

 (approaching chestnut) on the apical bars ; chin greyish brown ; 

 throat dull brown, indistinctly marked with fulvous; breast and 

 abdomen dull brown, barred with pale fulvous ; straggling hairs 

 about the base of the bill black, some produced to the extent of 

 3| inches; bill yellowish ivory, measuring from gape to the 

 end of mandible 5f inches ; upper mandible overreaching lower 

 mandible by -j^ of an inch ; tarsus 2^ inches ; middle toe and 

 claw 2f inches. 



Specimen No. 2. — Pace, head, and neck dark brown ; blackish 

 brown on the nape ; entire plumage richer in colour than in 

 specimen No. 1 ; on the back of thigh a chestnut bar ; a band 

 of chestnut crossing the plumage above the tarsal joint ; upper 

 mandible, from gape to point, 5 finches; tarsus 2i inches; 

 middle toe and claw 2f inches. 



Apteryx australis, Shaw. Great Kiwi. 



A beautiful variety of this interesting species of the Middle- 

 Island Kiwi departs in a remarkable degree from the usual state 

 of plumage. Face, head, chin, throat, and the front of the neck 

 white ; back of neck dull greyish brown ; a wide streak of white 

 on the front of the thighs, white interspersed on the breast and 

 abdomen ; a circlet of white immediately above the tarsal joint. 



A very fine female specimen of Owen's Kiwi has a broad 

 patch of white on the rump, another patch immediately behind 

 the wing. 



After looking over numbers of specimens of all the known 

 species, including the rich-coloured A. manteUi, Bartl., of the 

 North Island, one arrives at the conclusion that no specific cha- 

 racter can be safely drawn from the skin of the tarsus being 

 scutellate or reticulate. 



Rallus pictus. Potts. Painted Rail. 



Early in the month of March there was received at the Can- 

 terbury Museum a fine specimen of the Rail family which had 

 been obtained in the neighbourhood of the Okarito lagoon. 



