I02 



HUTTON, Land Birds of New Zealand. 



[Emu 

 Slh Jai 



been lost. The process is exactly the same as the gradual loss 

 of an instinct from disuse; both are due to forgetfulness.* 



I have thus tried — very imperfectly, I am afraid — to give you 

 some idea of the nature of the problems to which a study of 

 the avifauna of New Zealand leads, and I think that you will 

 all agree that, however imperfectly I may have explained them, 

 they are of no little interest to biologists in general and to 

 ornithologists in particular. 



APPENDIX. 

 Measurements in Millimetres. 



A Se.^-Bird on Land. — I saw a White-faced Storm-Petrel blown 

 on shore by a gale of wind at Wellington, New Zealand, and 

 it rolled over and over along a street until picked up, completely 

 exhausted. Also saw a light brown Sandpiper, but could not 

 distinguish the species, about half-way between Sydney and 

 Wellington, N.Z.— Lance Le Souef. Perth, W.A. 



* See Nature, 18th February, 1904, p. 366. 



