Iredale. — Kermadec Islands Avifavna . 87 



Circus sp. 



Circus gouldi Cheeseman, loc. cit., p. 218 ; Buller, loc. cit., p. 54. 



There cannot be much doubt that the ha,rrier which frequented Sunday 

 Island during the winter months was referable to the species Circus wpproxi- 

 mans Peale, but to which race cannot be decided without study of speci- 

 mens. The species has a wide range over Australia, New Caledonia, Fiji, 

 and New Zealand. 



Mathews (Novit. Zool., vol. 18, p. 10, 1911) has noted that Circus 

 afproximans Peale, 1848, g ven to the Fijian race, has priority and must 

 be used as a species name whilst C. gouldi Bonaparte, 1850, can be utilized, 

 but restricted for the east Australian form. It will be most interesting 

 to learn from which source come the birds which travel to and from the 

 Kermadecs. 



Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae cyanurus Salvadori. 



Cyanorhamphus cyanurus Salvadori, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, 

 vol. 7, p. 68, 1891 : Raoul Island, Kermadec Group. Plaiy- 

 cercus novaezeaJandiae Cheeseman, loc. cit., p. 218. Cyanor- 

 hamphus cyanurus Buller, loc. cit., p. 87. 



A parrakeet bred on Meyer Island ; it very rarely occurred in the autumn 

 on Sunday Island. On Macauley Island also not uncommonly was seen a 

 similar parrakeet. Salvadori named a bird procured by Macgillivray at 

 Raoul Island C. cyanurus. The wing-measurement is there given as 6-6 in. 

 This is copied into the Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 20, p. 587, but reference 

 to the type specimen shows this to be a misprint for 5-6 in. In the Cat. 

 Birds Brit. Mus. the habitat of cyanurus is given : " Raoul Island, of the 

 Kermadec Group, and perhaps also Sunday Island (where it has been exter- 

 minated by wild cats), Meyer, and Macauley Islands (Cheeseman). Whether 

 the birds from Sunday, Meyer, and Macauley Islands, also from the Ker- 

 madec Group, belong to the same species as those from Raoul Island remains 

 to be ascertained." 



Of course, Raoul Island is Sunday Island, and the bird so labelled by 

 Macgillivray was probably procured on Meyer Island. 



Buller's accounts in the Supplement are too. confused to be intelligible. 

 On p. 84, under C. novaezeakmdiae, he wrote : " Specimens brought from 

 Macauley Island, in the Kermadec Group, do not differ from the New Zea- 

 land bird. ... I have examined a caged parrakeet, brought by Mr. 

 Ernest Bell from Curtis Island, situated a few miles from Sunday Island, in 

 the Kermadec Group, where also this parrakeet was abundant till the in- 

 troduction of the domestic cat, which soon killed it ofT. I can detect no 

 difference from the New Zealand bird. . . . Macauley Island, where a 

 distinct species closely allied to C. novaezealandiae is said to exist, lies about 

 a degree distant from Sunday Island." Then on the following page is 

 written : " Mr. Bethune [sic}, of the ' Hinemoa,' declares that the Mac- 

 auley Island parrakeet is quite distinct from the one inhabiting Sunday 

 Island. He says he could readily pick a specimen out of a hundred of the 

 others. . . . Mr. Cheeseman records that he found this parrakeet very 

 plentiful on Macauley Island. . . . He states that all his specimens 

 were larger than New Zealand ones, but that he could not detect any other 

 difference. It is highly probable, therefore, that this was C. cyanurus, 

 which differs only in having the tail of a bluish hue." Then on p. 86 occurs : 

 " That from Macauley Island (Kermadec Group), of which several were 



