Hon. W. Rothschild on Apteryx Haastii. 299 



that of any other ; nevertheless we have in this species a close 

 ally of Plateni and possibly an old form from which perhaps 

 several of the varieties of the haliphron and helena groups 

 have been derived by differentiation — a transitional species I 

 have long expected would be discovered. After awhile other 

 transitional forms will, I hope, be found, and we may then be 

 able to understand some of the geographical development 

 history of the whole genus. 



I am much indebted to Mr. Elwes for the cession of a large 

 and interesting series of this novelty, the types of which, with 

 several varieties, will occupy two plates in the sixth part of 

 my ' Icones Ornithopterorum,' with extended information. 



24 Jasper Road, 

 Upper Norwood, S.E. 



LI, — Note on Apteryx Haastii. 



To the Editors of the ^Annals and Magazine of 

 Natural History.'' 



Gentlemen, — In the February number of your Magazine 

 Mr. H. O. Forbes answers my notes on Apteryx Haastii. I 

 deeply regret that he considers I have been guilty of an indis- 

 cretion in writing about opinions which, although openly 

 expressed, he never published in print, and I hope he will 

 accept my full apology. 



I must, however, in justice to myself answer his objections 

 in full. In the first place he contends that, contrary to my 

 statement, Apteryx Haastii has only been recorded from the 

 South Island, and that in single specimens in localities only 

 where A. australis and A. Oweni are found together. In 

 reply to this I have to state that the first four specimens of 

 A. Haastii I ever received were young birds of the size of 

 A. australis J and were so distinct that I had at first thought 

 they were a new species ; but I now, since my last article, 

 find they are not. These four birds were collected by a 

 German botanist on Stewart's Island and were sent me by 

 Sir Walter Buller. Then Sir Walter Buller sent me alive a 

 young Apteryx Haastii without a locality ; and, lastly, he 

 sent me fourteen or fifteen specimens, all collected on the 

 west coast of the North Island, among which were two live 

 birds, male and female, and a chick and rotten Qg^, all dug 

 out of one hole. 



