Iredale. — Platalea regia in Neio Zealand. 137 



seen in the geology and in the character and relationships of 

 the fauna and flora, has been admirably discussed by the late 

 Captain Hutton in the " Transactions of the New Zealand 

 Institute," and in the introductions to the " Index Faunae " 

 and " Animals of New Zealand," and by Messrs. Laing and 

 Blackwell in the introduction to their beautiful " Plants of New 

 Zealand." And if these works are studied with the map of the 

 Plateau as now developed the relations and reasons of most of 

 the observed facts mav be understood. 



Art. XII. — On the Occurrence in New Zealand of Platalea regia, 



Gould. 



By Tom Iredale. 



[Read befori' the Pliiln.sophical Institute of Canterbury, Wth July, 1906. J 



In vol. ix of our Transactions, Dr. (now Sir) Walter BuUer re- 

 corded the first occurrence of Platalea regia, Gould, in the colony. 

 That specimen was shot in April, 1875, near the mouth of the 

 Manawatu River, and is now in the collection of birds in the 

 Colonial Museum. In vol. xxviii Sir Walter Buller stated that 

 he had been informed by Mr. To\vnson, of Westport, that another 

 specimen had been shot, on the Buller River, about January, 

 1892, and was preserved in Dr. Gdze's collection. 



I have now to put on record another occurrence of this fine 

 bird, making the third in a space of thirty years. The specimen, 

 which I now exhibit, was shot on a lagoon near Greytown North, 

 in the Province of Wellington, in the month of May, 1905. This 

 specimen is an immature bird. 



As the bird was set up as you now see it when I heard of it, 

 I can only give you the words of the man who shot it. He 

 said, " I was coming home by the side of the lagoon from rabbit- 

 shooting when the bird rose from a hollow just in front of me. 

 I shot it, and was surprised at the bird when I picked it up. I 

 took it along to a friend of mine who dabbles in bird-stuffing, 

 and he set it up for me. I found that it had been seen for some 

 weeks previously flying about the lagoon, and several attempts 

 had been made to stalk it, but all had been unsuccessful owing 

 to its wariness. It had even been christened ' the white hawk.' " 



