BuLLEK. — On the Ornithology of New Zealand. 193 



tail-coverts, -which are of the normal colour ; bill and feet pale 

 reddish-brown. 



Mr. Morgan Carkeek, who has recently returned from a 

 two months' surveying expedition through the mountainous 

 country in the interior of the Marlborough District, found, to 

 his astonishment, that the South Island Woodhen had vanished 

 altogether, for he had met with only a single example during 

 the whole of that time. He attributes this result entirely 

 to the ravages of the imported stoats and weasels, which have 

 become fairly established in that country. 



A specimen of Ocydromus greyi which I received from the 

 Hutt Valley had the quills of the wings entirely black, with- 

 out any barred markings. On some of the secondaries there 

 were obsolete bars, but very obscure and broken. A speci- 

 men of Ocydromxis earli from the West Coast (Martin's Bay), 

 on the other hand, had the quills entirely chestnut-brown, 

 owing to a complete fusion of what, in ordinary birds, are 

 barred markings of that colour. 



Ocydromus australis, Sparrm. (South Island Woodhen.) 



I have received two albino specimens of this species from 

 the South Island. One is a male bird from Otago, in which 

 the whole of the plumage is pure white, with the exception of 

 a slight creamy tinge on the shoulders and upper-surface of 

 wings ; bill and feet whitish-horn colour. The other is a 

 female bird from Canterbury. This, too, is all white, except 

 that vestiges of the normal plumage appear on the wings and 

 flanks, and an iiTegular sprinkling of brown on other parts of 

 the body ; there is also a shade of ash-grey on the abdomen. 



Ocydromus earli, Gray. (Brown Woodhen.) 



I have received from Westport two partial albinoes of this 

 species marked almost exactly alike. They are both males, 

 and, having been captured at the same time, they presumably 

 belonged to the same clutch. The finer one of the two has the 

 forehead, sides of the head, throat, fore-neck, breast (with the 

 exception of a central patch of brown), and the whole of the 

 abdomen, sides of the body, and flanks pure white ; the rest of 

 the plumage normal. The other bird is almost exactly similar 

 in plumage, but has a little more brown on the sides of the 

 head, a larger patch of brown on the breast, and an admix- 

 ture of brown with the white of the abdomen and thighs. 



I obtained one example of the Brown Woodhen on 

 Stewart Island, and I am assured that the Black Woodhen 

 is found there also. 



We had landed our party at Price's Cove, in Paterson's 

 Inlet, a charming spot near a sandy beach, enclosed by a 

 thick belt of vegetation, among which the beautiful Senecio 

 13 



