V1. INTRODUCTION. 
All measurements are in inches and decimal parts of an inch. L. 
means the length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail; B. 
means the length of the bill, from the tip to the gape; W. means the 
length of the wing, from the flexure, or carpal joint, to the point (in the 
Penguins the whole length of the wing); T. means the length of the 
tarsus, or lower part of the leg. 
I have only given as synonyms those names under which the birds 
appear, either in Mr. G. R. Gray’s list of the Birds of New Zealand, 
published in the “ Ibis” for 1862, or in the “Transactions of the New 
Zealand Institute,” for I have thought it neither necessary nor desirable 
to quote from other authors a quantity of synonyms which I am not in 
a position to verify. Of the 160 species here described probably ten 
have not really been found in New Zealand, thus leaving about 150 
species of true native birds. It will be noticed that eleven species of 
undoubted New Zealand birds have been added since the publication of 
the Catalogue of the Colonial Museum last year, and the list given by 
Dr. O. Finsch in the “Journal fiir Ornithologie,” 1870; these are— 
Colluricincla concinna, Tringa canutus, Dendrocygna Hytoni, Diomedea 
culminata, Thalassidroma marina, Puffinus tristis, Procellaria atlantica, 
Procellaria cinerea, Lestris parasiticus, Larus Jameson, and LHydro- 
chelidon lewcoptera. It will, however, give a very erroneous idea of the 
state of our knowledge of the avi-fauna of this country, if it is supposed 
that all these birds have been discovered during the last twelve months, 
for, on the contrary, one only (Dendrocygna Kytont) can be considered 
as an addition during that time, all the others having been either pre- 
viously represented in our Museums, or known to be common off our 
coasts, but were either not recognised as new, or, if recognised, had not 
been identified. JI am, however, convinced that several more have yet 
to be discovered. The small Owl, mentioned by Mr. Ellman and others ; 
the Zosterops, with the red or orange head and throat, mentioned by 
Archdeacon Stock (“ Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” vol. IIL, p. 23, note) ; the blue- 
crested Gerygone? mentioned by the Rev. R. Taylor (‘Te ika a Maui,” 
2nd ed., p. 615) ; the Tui, with red neck-feathers, said by the Maoris to 
inhabit Cuvier’s Island (‘“Tbis,” 1863, p. 244); the Pigeon, with a 
white-crested head, mentioned by Mr. P. Earl as having been seen near 
the Molyneux River (‘‘ Voy. ‘ Erebus’ and ‘ Terror,’” Birds, p. 10) ; the 
Duck, with red on the wings, mentioned by Mr. H. Travers as occurring 
at the Chatham Islands (“ Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” vol. L, p. 178); and the 
White Tern, seen by Mr. Potts (“ Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” vol. IIT., p. 106), 
