212 Mathews. Nature of New Zealand Avifauna. [.sfApril 



Pygoscelis, and Aptenodytes have a world-wide Subantaixtic range, 

 Eudyptula is confined to Avxstralia and New Zealand, and Mega- 

 dyptes is purely Neozelanic. No other country can boast of an 

 endemic genus of Penguins, and none other can show five breeding 

 genera of Penguins with nine distinct species. 



Austraha, the nearest country, has only one breeding species, 

 and that the least in size, though perhaps not the most in- 

 significant in scientific interest. 



If New Zealand can claim to be the present stronghold of 

 Penguins, how can we express its relationship to Petrels ? Out 

 of a total of a httle over 200 species of birds, one-fifth are Petrels. 

 No proportion anything like this can be elsewhere seen, and no 

 other country can show so many species, whatever its extent. 

 Australia can nearly enumerate as many, but these are mainly 

 stragglers, whereas in the case of New Zealand the majority are 

 breeders. This is again due to the Subantarctic and Subtropical 

 groups of islands, which are the breeding homes of many species. 

 Of httle value as regards the inter-relationships of avifaunas, we 

 can dismiss them easily. They, however, characterize the New 

 Zealand Ornis, and occupy, with the Penguins, the most prominent 

 place in the study of the avifauna. 



Frigate-Birds have occurred as stragglers only from the north, 

 but New Zealand Shags are famous. Owing to the sphtting 

 methods of the last generation of ornithologists, many more 

 species were credited to the Dominion than really exist. A large 

 number of " White-belUed " species were named on account of 

 indeterminate and variable differences seen in single specimens 

 from different islands. A very careful examination has reduced 

 the number of " species " to nine, but still this is more than any 

 other locality harbours. Moreover, eight out of the nine do breed 

 •on the mainland, while varied forms of two of them inhabiting 

 the subantarctic islands have been the ones to receive " specific " 

 recognition without deserving it. Four species of the " White- 

 belhed " series par excellence are allowed, one of which has not 

 a "white belly." Such a paradox could not be achieved except 

 in New Zealand, but it is one of Nature's ways in that peculiar 

 country absolutely to contradict itself. This species is a 

 melanistic evolution which has separated itself and at present 

 lives along with its parent form. In another Shag we have the 

 reverse procedure present — viz., the acquisition of a " white 

 belly " from a Black-belhed form. Then two Shags only sub- 

 specifically different from two Austrahan Shags occur, and two 

 others, generically endemic, complete the tale, one of which 

 represents the other on the Chatham Islands. 



To indicate the facts with usage of technical names, we will 

 note that the genus Hypoleucus has four species — variiis, carun- 

 culatus, campbelli, and chalconotus — the last-named being the 

 fixed melanistic representative of the preceding one. This genus 

 is Subantarctic in distribution, occurring in Australia with two 

 species, perthi and fuscescens. The latter is purely an Australian 



