296 Mr. T. W. Kirk on some 



vary in the length of wing of the males from 3'5 to 3"1 

 inches, and those in the Swinhoe collection from China vary 

 from 3*1 to 2-9 inches : {b) that it wants the tiny black spot 

 on the chin ; but more than half of my Yenesay examples 

 want it also, though it is present in none of my Chinese 

 skins : (c) that it lias much less white on the outer tail- 

 feathers ; but this assertion is only true on an average, some 

 Chinese examples having more white on the outer tail- 

 feathers than a selected few of the Yenesay skins. The 

 Chinese form can therefore only claim to be subspeeifically 

 distinct from the Siberian form under the name of Emberiza 

 cioides castaneiceps. 



The special interest attaching to this bird at the present 

 moment is that an example exhibited at a recent meeting of 

 the Zoological Society was purchased by Mr. Robert W. 

 Chase from a Mr. Matthew Bailey, who informed him that he 

 had stuffed it from the flesh, and that it had been obtained 

 by a fisherman at Flamborough, south of the headland, in 

 October 1887. This specimen is in autumn plumage and 

 is a male, but from the small extent of the chestnut on 

 the breast evidently not a very old one. The wing and tail 

 measure each exactly 3 inches ; there is no black spot on the 

 chin, and the amount of white on the outside tail-feathers is 

 so nearly intermediate between the two extremes that it 

 would pass for either of them. On the whole, however, the 

 specimen approaches rather nearer to Emberiza cioides cas- 

 taneiceps than to the typical form. 



XXIX. — Notes on some New-Zealand Birds. 

 By T. W. Kirk, F.R.M.S. 



1. Rhipidura ruLiGiNOSA, Sparrm. Black Fantail. " Ti- 

 wakawaki.'^ 



This bird is generally believed to be confined to the 

 South Island ; there are, however, several well-authenticated 

 records of its capture in the north, A specimen was quite 

 recently shot at Levin, a new township on the Wellington 



