1874.] MR. G. D. ROWLEY ON BIRDS FROM NEW ZEALAND. 497 



of Swinhoe's Phasianus ellioti, obtained in the province of Fokieu 

 by Pere David. 



At Genoa, the Museo Civico, under the directorship of the Mar- 

 chese Giovanni Doria, was making great progress. A remarkable 

 feature in this Institution was that by far the greater number of the 

 specimens had been obtained by Italian travellers and collectors, and 

 were therefore precisely determined as regards locality. Among 

 special rarities were noticed : — a perfect specimen of Lophiomys im- 

 hausii from Keren, in the Bogos country, being the second known 

 specimen of this rare and extraordinary mammal* ; a complete ske- 

 leton of Pontoporia blainvillii, received from a correspondent in 

 Buenos Ayres ; and a perfect adult Cassowary from the Aroo Islands, 

 obtained by Dr. Beccari. Of this last-named specimen, which 

 appeared to belong to an undescribed species, Mr. Sclater promised 

 further particulars in a subsequent communication. 



Mr. G. Dawson Rowley, F.Z.S., exhibited some rare bird-skins 

 from New Zealand, amongst which were specimens of Apteryx 

 haasti, Nestor productus, and two living specimens of Sceloglaux 

 albifacies. 



Mr. Rowley made the following remarks on these birds : — 

 " I have the pleasure of exhibiting the following birds and other 

 objects lately arrived from New Zealand : — 

 Apteryx haasti, <3 and $ , adult. 

 6 and $ , young. 

 Apteryx oweni, a series, old and young. 

 Nestor notabilis. 

 Nestor super bus. 



Sceloglaux albifacies, c? and $ , living birds. 

 50 Moa-stones. These pebbles were found in one heap, and 

 belong to the same Dinornis ; they are very smooth. 

 "Concerning Apteryx haasti Dr. Otto Finsch says (Trans, of New- 

 Zealand Institute, 1872, vol. v. p. 212), 'I cannot agree with Mr. 

 Potts as to a hybridism between A. australis and A. oweni.' Again, 

 ' I take it for a good species.' Dr. Finsch's opinion is confirmed 

 by these specimens, and also by the fact that Apteryx is said to be 

 local, one species not intermixing with another. 



" Dr. Haast and Dr. Buller grant the honours of a species to this 

 bird ; these gentlemen, from the rarity of it, were forced to determine 

 it from two skins in the Canterbury Museum, the only known 

 examples — one found up the Okarita river, the other on the eastern 

 shore of Lake Mapourika. Wishing to investigate more fully the 

 question of this species, I directed the efforts of my collector to the 

 subject ; and I place before the meeting the adult male and female 

 and the young male and female, all taken seven thousand feet above 

 the level of the sea, thirty miles up the Okarita river, in the moun- 



* Described by A. Milne-Edwards, Nouv. Ann. d. Mus. iii. pi. 6, p. 81. 

 There is besides this a skull in the Anatomical Museum of Berlin, upon which 

 Phractomys atkiopicus of Peters (Zeitsch. f. d. g. Nat. xxix. p. 195) was esta- 

 blished. 



