264 Letters, Extracts, Notices, fyc. 



the sea-coast on June 20th, 1889, and kept the field ten 

 weeks. The well-known Australian collector Mr. Broadbent 

 was attached to it. It is stated that at the height of 

 5000 feet (nearly the limit of the height of the range) no 

 change of fauna takes place, some of the most familiar 

 birds of Queensland (such as Pachycephala gutturalis) being 

 met with in numbers on the top of the mountain, and other 

 more local kinds (e. g. Scenopceus dentirostris, Prionodura 

 newtoniana, and Sericomis gutturalis *) having been found 

 at all heights and on the summit. The list of birds 

 of which specimens were obtained embraces 79 species, 

 amongst which is an Owl, described as new under the name 

 Ninox lurida. Other rare species besides those above men- 

 tioned are Cracticus quoyi, Colluricincla boweri, and Gery- 

 gone fiavida. Nineteen other species are enumerated as 

 observed on Bellenden-Ker by Mr. Broadbent, but not 

 obtained. Mr. Meston also procured a nest and eggs, 

 believed to be those of the remarkable Bower-bird Prioni- 

 dura newtoniana. 



New extinct Swan in Neio Zealand. — At a meeting of the 

 Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, New Zealand, on 

 October 3rd, 1889, Mr. H. O. Forbes, Director of the 

 Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, described an extinct 

 species of Swan from osteological remains which he had 

 discovered while excavating a cave recently exposed at 

 Sumner, on the estuary of the Heathcote and Avon Rivers, 

 a few miles distant from Christchurch. 



The bones discovered consisted of three complete coracoids 

 and the proximal and distal portions of the humerus. They 

 differ very little from those of Chenopis atrata of Australia, 

 except in their greater size. The new species has been 

 named Chenopis sumnerensis. The Sumner cave was stated 

 to have been closed before the introduction of Chenopis 

 atrata into New Zealand. The extension of the Swans 



* A new species lately described by Mr. Be Vis in the ' Proceedings ' 

 of the Royal Society of Queensland from specimens obtained at Herberton 

 by Mr. Broadbent. 



