2 TO Mathbws, Nature of New Zealand Avifauna. [ ^-'"'^ 



^ ^^ ■' ■> List April 



The Nature of the New Zealand Avifauna. 



By Gregory M. Mathews, F.R.S.E., &c., and Tom Iredale, 

 M.B.O.U. 



As we regard ourselves as specialists in connection with the New 

 Zealand avifauna, and are now preparing a Handbook, we are 

 naturally much interested in Uterature relating to this country. 

 Consequently, we noted in The Emu, vol. xix., p. 275 (ist April = 

 29th May, 1920), a paper entitled " The Tasmanian and New 

 Zealand Groups," by Robert Hall. It is well known that Mr. 

 Hall was familiar with the Tasmanian Ornis, so that the essay 

 demanded attention. 



We have pubHshed a " Name-list " in the Austral Avian Record 

 (vol. iv., pp. 49 et seq., July, 1920), and we will here give details 

 in connection with that hst. We had not intended to do this 

 at the present stage, as Hutton's account, pubhshed within the 

 last twenty years, was comparatively good. This paper will only 

 deal with the birds as we have studied them, giving the relation- 

 ships as accurately as possible and their hypothetical method of 

 arrival. It will be observed that many of the relationships are 

 regarded as unknown by us ; this is better than stating an alhance 

 which is purely conjectural. 



As the limits of the Maorian Region are debatable, we must 

 preface these remarks with our ideas of the territory and its 

 subdivisions. As we here include the Kermadec Islands, we 

 must note that these constitute a Polynesian outher with a basic 

 Neozelanic affinity, and consequently species become admitted to 

 the New Zealand avifauna which, if this were not emphasized, 

 would show a peculiar aspect in some connections. Then it must 

 be remembered that the Chatham Islands, which are an integral 

 portion of the region, have been separated for a period quite 

 hiestimable with the present data ; consequently we have, as 

 endemic, forms which are missing from the mainland, and, vice 

 versa, have no record of well-estabhshed mainland specialities. 

 The next item is the Subantarctic series of islands, covering the 

 Bounty Islands, Campbell, Auckland, and Macquarie Groups. 

 All these are situated in different latitudes, and are more or less 

 barren islets and islands inhabited by sea-birds, with a few land 

 residents. These, again, give to the New Zealand avifauna a 

 strange countenance, which would be different and might be 

 differently interpreted in their absence. 



To begin with, we credit New Zealand with nine species of 

 Penguins, only four of which breed on the mainland, and these 

 are the best known and, except one, the least significant of the 

 Order. We admit two species of Eudyptula (the Little Penguin), 

 with a strange distribution, the facts regarding which are not 

 yet well known. _One species, the earliest to be described by 

 Forster — the Eudyptula minor — is so closely allied to the ])ird 

 breeding in Australia that it is considered only sub-specifically 



