454 Dr. W. L. BuUer on Harpa novse-zealandise. 



determination, by dissection, of the sex of the bird mentioned 

 by me in the Trans. N.Z. Instit. vol. vii. p. 213. 



I think it may be fairly urged that when every thing is 

 thus assumed in favour of a particular line of argument, even 

 in the face of direct evidence to the contrary, the result 

 is not entitled to very much weight. But let us look for a 

 moment at Prof. Hutton^s table of measurements, and see 

 what his facts amount to. He gives the dimensions of twelve 

 specimens, of which on dissection two proved to be females, 

 nine males, and one of doubtful sex. 



I have only to " assume " that Prof. Hutton has made a 

 mistake with the sex of his specimen B, and his whole case 

 falls to the ground. But even admitting that he is right, I 

 cannot see that his argument is at all conclusive ; for his 

 female specimen B gives a wing-measurement only "25 of 

 an inch longer than that assigned by me to the female of the 

 smaller species ! 



My principal object, however, in writing is to point out 

 that Prof. Hutton somewhat misrepresents me in stating that 

 " Dr. Buller is mistaken in saying that the name of H. ferox 

 has priority over H. australis ; for H. australis was given in 

 1841, and H. ferox not until 1848." 



In my " Notes on the Ornithology of New Zealand/^ pub- 

 lished in the sixth volume of the ' Transactions of the New- 

 Zealand Institute,' I made the following statements : — 



" Mr. Sharpe has pointed out that the name of Falco brun- 

 neus of Gould has been preoccupied by Bechstein, who thus 

 called the Common Kestrel of Europe, and that consequently 

 our bird, if allowed to be distinct from H. novcu-zealandicB , 

 must bear another title. Mr. Sharpe considers that this 

 should be Ilieracidea australis (Homb. et Jacq.) ; but it seems 

 to me that this is only a synonym of the older species, and that 

 the right name to fall back upon is Falco ferox of Peale 

 (U. S. Expl. Exped. 1848, p. 67)." 



Wellington, N. Z. 

 March 26, 1881. 



