94 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



No information of any kind is given about the nesting habits 

 of the Saddle-back, Creadion carunculatus, Gmel., of which so 

 interesting an account has been published by Mr. T. H. Potts, 

 who has also described the changes of plumage which this bird 

 undergoes, but which are not noticed by Mr. Buller. Similarly, 

 we find no reference to the nidification of the Orange-wattled 

 Crow, Glaucopis cinerea, Gmel., of the Bell-bird, Anthomis mela- 

 nura, nor of the Pied and Black Fantails (Rhipidura), although 

 nests and eggs of all these have been described by Mr. Potts, who 

 has likewise directed the attention of ornithologists to the curious 

 fact that the two last-named species not unfrequently interbreed 

 (Trans. N. Z. Instit., vol. ii., p. 64), a noteworthy observation 

 which Mr. Buller would have done well to quote. 



The account given of the Kea, or Mountain Parrot, Nestor nota- 

 b'dis (p. 38) is very meagre, in view of all that has been published 

 on the habits of this remarkable bird since the date of Mr. Buller's 

 quarto work ;* and the latest information relating to Notornis 

 mantelli is too briefly given in the statement that since the appear- 

 ance of his former work a third example has been " lately captured 

 by a party of rabbit-hunters with dogs at a place known as 

 1 Bare-patch,' between Maruia and Upokororo Rivers, on the 

 plains eastward of Te Anau Lake." For "lately" we should 

 read " in 1880," and it would surely have been desirable to direct 

 attention to Professor Jeffery Parker's description of the skeleton 

 (Trans. N. Z. Instit. xiv., p. 245), and to inform the reader that 

 this specimen of Notornis was forwarded to England for sale 

 (cf. Newton, P. Z. S., 1882), and was ultimately purchased for the 

 Dresden Museum, where it may now be seen. 



Describing the Black Oystercatcher of New Zealand, " Hcema- 

 topns unicolor, Forster " (rectius Wagler) Mr. Buller makes the 

 extraordinary remark that " this species, although far more abun- 

 dant in New Zealand than the Pied Oystercatcher, appears to 

 have a more confined range, for it has never yet been recorded 

 elsewhere ! " It happens, however, to be quite as common in 

 Australia as it is in New Zealand, inhabiting all parts of the 

 Australian coast, as well as Tasmania and the Islands in Bass's 

 Straits. It is the more surprising that Mr. Buller should have 

 overlooked this, since in his quarto work he has identified his 

 H. unicolor with H.fuliginosus, Gould, from Australia ! 



:: See ' Zoologist,' 1880, p. 57; 1881, p. 290. 



