2l8 



NATURE 



\yuly 1 8, 1872 



We venture to suggest that in these, and, indeed, in 

 every other large school in England, a third, or Natural 

 Science department should be founded, in which Practical 

 Chemistry, Field Botany, and Natural Philosophy, with 

 the French and German languages, should form the sub- 

 jects of study. We are confident that in the hands of 

 competent teachers, a lad might obtain between the ages 

 of fifteen and eighteen or nineteen, a very large amount 

 of useful knowledge on these subjects, without any undue 

 strain upon his intellectual powers ; while we are con- 

 vinced that such a scheme would prove successful in a 

 pecuniary point of view ; and that there would be ample 

 funds, derived from the scholars in attendance, to pay the 

 additional teachers that would be required. The instruc- 

 tion given need only be rudimentary ; but it should be 

 most precise and thoroughly acquired. Any chemist 

 could select si.x elements, any botanist six natural orders, 

 any zoologist six classes of animals, which, if thoroughly 

 known, would constitute an invaluable training to the future 

 physician. He would then enter the medical school with 

 a well-cultivated mind accustomed to close observation, 

 and prepared to profit to the utmost by the system of 

 education now generally adopted. 



ORNITHOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND 

 Catalogue of the Birds of New Zealand, with Diai;/wsis 



of the Species. By Frederick WoUaston Hutton, 



F.G.S., Assistant Geologist. Published by Command. 



8vo. (New Zealand, 1871.) 

 A History of the Birds of Neia Zealand. By Walter 



Lawry BuUer, D.Sc, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S., &c. Part 1. 



8vo, coloured plates (London, 1872.) 



BIRDS, as most people know, or ought to know, form 

 the most important part of the vertebrate Fauna of 

 New Zealand, and their importance is maintained not 

 only when they are compared with their compatriots of 

 other classes ; but, when regarded in reference to mem- 

 bers of their own class in the world at large, the birds of 

 New Zealand offer so many singular forms that as a 

 whole they deserve every consideration. Some of the 

 most remarkable of these have already been mentioned 

 by a distinguished writer in this periodical,* but perhaps 

 hardly sufficient prominence was then given to the fact in 

 the ornithology of New Zealand which seems of all others 

 to demand attention ; for, recent birds being divided into 

 two great and trenchantly marked groups, of very unequal 

 extent, the smaller of these groups (the Ratita) is found 

 to contain six most natural sections, comprismg, to take 

 the most exaggerated estimate, less than two score of 

 species, while the larger group (the Carinatai), though 

 perhaps not containing more natural sections, compre- 

 hends some ten thousand species. Now, two out of the six 

 sections of this small group are absolutely restricted to New 

 Zealand, and these two sections contain considerably 

 more than half of the species known to belong to it. 

 Thus, setting aside the Carinate birds of our distant de- 

 pendency (and some of them are sufficiently wonderful'i, 

 its recent Ratite forms — some twenty species, let us say 

 — alone may be regarded as the proportional equivalent 

 of one-tenth of the birds of the globe, or numerically, we 

 may say, of an avifauna of about one thousand species. 



" Nature, June 23, 1870, and Jan. 5, 1S71. 



The birds of New Zealand, therefore, merit especial 

 attention, and we are happy to say they receive it at the 

 hands of the authors whose works are above cited. 

 Taking the field in or about the year 1865, Mr. BuUer, till 

 then unknown to fame beyond the limits of his native 

 colony, brought out an " Essay on the Ornithology of 

 New Zealand," which at once attracted notice in this old 

 world of ours. Some of his views were challenged by 

 Dr. Finsch, then of Leyden, who had paid attention to 

 this extraordinary avifauna, and a controversy ensued. 

 This, to the credit of the controversialists, was carried on 

 in a spirit very different from that in which many another 

 war in natural-history circles has been waged, and the 

 happy result is that on most points the combatants have 

 arrived at the same conclusion, thereby giving assurance 

 to the general public of its being the right one. The 

 Essay we have mentioned may be regarded as the pre- 

 liminary canter which a race-horse takes before he puts 

 forth his full strength ; and Mr. Buller's book, or that part 

 of it which is as yet published, shows what he can do now 

 that the colonial authorities have allowed him to come to 

 England for the express purpose of completing his design. 



Captain Hutton is known as an observer who, during 

 several long voyages, had proved that some rational occu- 

 pation could be found at sea even by a landsman ; for, 

 instead of devoting his energies to the ordinary time- 

 kiliing amusements of shipboard, he watched the flight 

 of the various oceanic birds which presented themselves, 

 and speculated on the mode in which it was performed 

 and the forces it brought into operation — to some ou' pose 

 as the Duke of Argyll and Dr. Pettigrew have test fied. 

 The pamphlet whose title we give is in some respects a 

 not less significant, if a less ambitious, work than Mr. 

 I'uUei-'s ; and though to the last must belong the crown 

 of glory, we by no means wish to overlook the useful part 

 which Captain Hutton's publication will play. If here we 

 do not notice it further, it is because its value will be most 

 appreciated in the colony itself, while Mr. Buller's beautiful 

 book appeals to a larger public. 



Of the baker's dozen of species included in this first 

 part of the " History of the Birds of New Zealand," we 

 propose to notice only those belonging to three genera, 

 two of them quite peculiar to the country, while the third 

 is, or was, found in the neighbouring islands of the same 

 zoo-geographical province. The remaining eight species 

 belong to types of far wider distribution ; hawks, owls, 

 and kingfishers present much the same features all the 

 world over, and the New Zealand parrakeets do not much 

 differ from their congeners which are found in other por- 

 tions of the Australian region. 



The Kakapo, or Owl-parrot {Strigops habroptilus), is 

 without doubt one of the most remarkable of New Zealand 

 birds. It has already been figured in these columns ;* 

 but perhaps a few more words about it may not come 

 amiss. Its crepuscular habits seem to have kept it hidden 

 from the earlier explorers, and it was not until 1S45 that 

 this singular form was made known to naturalists by the 

 late Mr. Gray. Possessing ample wings, it disdains their 

 use ; and to such an extent has this desuetude reached 

 that its osteology is thereby materially affected, and it 

 stands alone among Carinate birds as having the keel of 

 its breast-bone dwarfed into a mere ridge, such as is 



* Natuke, Jan. 5, 1S71. 



