e84 Capt. F. W. Hutton on the Geographical 



A more difficult fact to account for is the presence of dif- 

 ferent species of grass-bird {Sjihenoeacus) in both Australia and 

 New Zealand ; for this bird has such feeble powers of flight that 

 it could not cross a river, and must almost of necessity have 

 travelled by land. It must, however, be noticed that this 

 genus extends through the Indian archipelago into India, and 

 1 have not been able yet to compare our grass-birds with those 

 of Australia and the archipelago, so that I am not able to say 

 what amount of difference there is between them. The genus 

 Keropia has most affinity with South-American birds, while 

 Graucalus melanops^ which is closely related to our G. con- 

 c'innus, is said to extend from Australia into New Guinea. 



In the order Grall», or Waders, we come to birds more 

 widely spread than any others, some indeed being almost cos- 

 mopolitan : but even amongst these the isolated character of 

 our fauna is still marked ; for out of twenty-eight species be- 

 longing to seventeen genera eight species and two genera are 

 found nowhere else. The most noticeable feature in this order 

 is the existence of a cm'ious genus of rails {Ocydromus) quite 

 unable to fly. Of this genus w^e possess four species, one in 

 the North and three in the South Island, while a fifth species 

 is found in Lord-Howe Island, and a sixth in New Caledonia. 

 Notorms, although somewhat like the pukeko [Porphyrio me- 

 lanotus) in the bill, has the feeble wings, thick legs, and short 

 toes of Tribonyx Mortierii of Tasmania and Australia. Of 

 our other rails, two [Ralhis pectoralis and Ocydromus tabuensts) 

 are spread over Australia and Polynesia, while another ( 0. affi- 

 7ns), although not found elsewhere, is closely related to a species 

 from Australia {0. ^xilustris). In the godwit [Limosa uropy- 

 gialis) we have another migratory bird that probably comes 

 from Polynesia ; but as it is also found in Australia, we cannot 

 feel any certainty about it. New Zealand also displays the 

 peculiarity of being the only country in the world inhabited 

 by two species of stilt-plover [Himantopus), one of which {H. 

 novce-zelandicB) is found nowhere else. This is probably 

 owing to the length of time that New Zealand has been 

 isolated, and to its having had during the whole of the period 

 a stilt-plover on it, which gradually changed until it attained 

 that remarkable jet-black plumage wdiich is so difterent from 

 that of any other species ; while the later colonist from Australia 

 (//. leucocephalus) displays the colour usual to the genus. 

 This view is rendered the more probable by the fact that the 

 young of the black stilt-plover have the same pied plumage 

 that is exhibited by the adults of those species from one of 

 which I suppose it to have been derived. 



In the crookbill [Anarhynchus frontalis) we have another 



