21S Traiuactions. — Zoology. 



1. CoiCMOK Hareeeb {Circus gouldi, Bonap.). 



This I saw several times on Stinday Island, and a paii" ^vas 

 also noticed on Maeanlay Island. !Mr. Bell states that it is 

 not a permanent resident, but disappears each year in the 

 month of September, retnming in the f ollo'sing Jannaiy. Ac- 

 cording to him, it is driven from the islands by the Wide- 

 awake Tern (Sterna fuliginosa) , which yearly visits the islands 

 in enormous ntmibers for breeding purposes. On the arrival 

 of the Sterna it is quite common to see parties of six or eight, 

 or even more, pursuing a hawk and chasing it from place to 

 place : and this goes on until the hawks disappear. Mr. BeU 

 is confident that they migrate to New Zealand — a distance of 

 over six hundred miles. 



2. KiKGnsHER {Halcyon vagans. Less.). 



Common on Sunday Island, but not se^n on Macaulay 

 Island. Breeds in holes in the cILSlS. 



3. Ttti {Prosthemadera iiova-zealandi^, Gml.;. 



Plentiful on Sunday Island, although its numbers, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Bell, have been much thinned by the wild cats. It 

 usually bmlds its nest among the branches of the pohutukawa 

 (Metroiideros polymorpha), and its breeding-season extends 

 from September to January. I am indebted to Mr. Bell for 

 some eggs, which are precisely similar to Xew Zealand speci- 

 mens. Both Mr. Percy Smith and myself remarked that it^ 

 note shghtly differed from that of our bird. 



4. VrniTE-ETE {Zosterops carulescens, Lath.). 



I met with this species several times in the bush on Sun- 

 day Island, and a few individuals were noticed in a clump of 

 stunted Carumbium btishes in the crater of Macaulay Island. 

 Mr. BeU tells me that it is only an occasional visitant, and 

 that he has never known it to breed on the island. 



o. GBor^fD-LAEK {Antluis novoi-zealandice, Gml.). 



Apparently not uncommon on Macaulay Island, the flat 

 grassy surface of which is a very suitable habitat for it. I did 

 not see it on Sunday Island, but !Mr. Bell states that he oc- 

 casionally notices it, usually in pairs, but has never found it 

 breeding as yet. 



6. PiED-FEONTED Pakeakeet {Platycercus novcz-zealandice, 

 Sparrm.). 



Yer\- plentiful on Macaiday Island, where it was seen hop- 

 ping about on the short grass in flocks of from twenty to fifty, 

 apparently feeding on the seeds of Gnaphalii'.m and Erigerati. 

 So tame were they, and so tmused to man's presence, that it 



