96 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



at intervals these essays have appeared, but the name of the 

 author will be familiar to them in connection with the many 

 interesting articles which Mr. Potts has contributed to ' The 

 Zoologist.' * As an outdoor observer he seems to have had 

 excellent opportunities for becoming acquainted with the life- 

 habits and mode of nidification of many of the less-known New 

 Zealand birds, and has turned these opportunities to good account 

 by a systematic entry in his note-book on the spot of all obser- 

 vations made by him, storing them up for subsequent utilisation. 

 This, no doubt, is the right way to proceed, and the way to 

 avoid the mistakes which would be sure to occur by trusting to 

 memory only. 



Amongst the chapters in the present volume may be cited that 

 on the White Heron (pp. 1 — 8), on New Zealand Hawks (pp. 37 

 —50), the Bell-bird (pp. 113 — 11G), Parrots (pp. 176—183), the 

 Kea (pp. 184 — 193), on rare or little-known birds (pp. 194—203), 

 Seafowl (pp. 204—220), and " On recent changes in the Fauna of 

 New Zealand," which last-named chapter, like that on the Kea, 

 has already, as noted below, appeared in ' The Zoologist.' 



Amongst the illustrations we notice the nest and eggs of the 

 Bell-bird (Anthornis melanura), a Kea perched on the back of a 

 sheep, and the nest of the Saddle-back, Creadion caruncalatus. 



It would perhaps have been well bad Mr. Potts indicated 

 in every case the particular journal in which each chapter of his 

 book originally appeared, quoting volume and page, instead of 

 leaving the reader to discover it for himself, perhaps with some 

 trouble and inconvenience, for New Zealand publications are 

 not quite so accessible in this country as Mr. Potts would have us 

 suppose. 



* See his " Notes on the Birds of New Zealand," ' Zoologist,' 1871, 

 pp. 2793, 2853 ; 1872, pp. 3052, 3089 ; 1874, pp. 3898, 3936, 3979, 4014 ; 

 1875, pp. 4409, 4477 ; " On the habits of the Kakapo, or Night Parrot of New 

 Zealand," ' Zoologist,' 1873, p. 3621 ; " On recent changes in the Fauna of 

 New Zealand," 1874, p. 4135 ; " On Apteryx Jiaasti," 1874, p. 4158 ; and 

 " On the habits of the Kea, or Mountain Parrot," 1881, p. 290. & 



