378 Dr. Finscb on some Birds 



and, according to Mr. Cotze, never descends to the sea. Eggs 

 from him are of the usual pale blue-green, covered with chalky 

 matter ; axis 1 " 7'", diam. 1" 2'", similarly shaped at both ends. 



A sealing- vessel, just returned from theCrozette Islands, brings 

 up thirty-seven tuns of oil made from the skins of the Maccaroni 

 Penguin {Aptenodytes chrysocome). I am told it takes the 

 skins of 1400 birds to make one tun of oil ; at this rate 51,800 

 birds have been destroyed for this one cargo ! A man can catch, 

 kill, and strip the skins from 350 or 360 birds in a day. How 

 long will the race of Penguins last ? How long before they are 

 numbered, with the Great Auk, among the things that were ? 



Another vessel from the islands about Tristan d'Acunha has 

 brought many live examples of the curious Gallinula nesiotis, or 

 Island-hen, four of which are now running merrily about in my 

 aviary, also three of the Island-Thrushes and their eggs, and 

 a Finch [Hyjjhantoi'nis ?), and a lot of eggs of sea-fowl ; but of 

 these I must make a further examination and report. 



Soutli- African Museum, June 18, 1869. 



XXXIII. — Remarks on some species of Birds from New Zealand. 

 By Dr. O. FiNscH, C.M.Z.S. &c. 



In a large collection of birds which I lately received from Dr. 

 Julius Haast, the well-known explorer of New Zealand, I was 

 very much pleased to find some of the species lately described 

 as new by Mr. Walter Puller, in bis ^ Essay on the Ornithology 

 of New Zealand'*, or in his paper in 'The Ibis^ for the present 

 year {antea, pp. 37-43). A careful examination showed me at 

 once that some of those so-called new species are by no means 

 new to science ; therefore it will, perhaps, be a matter of some 

 interest to the readers of this Journal, as well as to ornitholo- 

 gists iu general, to become acquainted with the results of my 

 studies. ,. 



Platycercus ALPiNus, Bullcr, Ibis, 1869, p. 39. 



Two specimens, male and female, from the Southern Alps, 



• Translated by me in tlie 'Journal fiir Ornithologrie ' for 1867, pp. 

 305-347. 



