CHAP. XIII.] THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 453 



part of Polynesia, distances of more than 1,000 miles I These 

 facts seem, however, to have been accepted on insufficient evidence 

 and to be in themselves extremely improbable. It is observed 

 that the cuckoos appear annually in certain districts and again 

 disappear ; but their course does not seem to have been traced, 

 still less have they ever been actually seen arriving or departing 

 across the ocean. In a country which has still such wide tracts 

 of unsettled land, it is very possible that the birds in question 

 may only move from one part of the islands to another. 



Islds of the Keiv Zealand Suh-region. 

 We will here notice the smaller islands belonmncr to the sub- 



O O 



region, as it is chiefly tlieir birds that possess any interest. 



Norfolk Island. — The land-birds recorded from this island 

 amount to 15 species, of which 8 are Australian, ^•iz. : Climac- 

 teris scandens, Symmorphns leucopygius, Zosterops tcnuirostris and 

 Z. albogularis, Halcyon sancius, Platycercus pennanti, Carpopliaga 

 spadicea, Fliapspicata and P. ckalcoptcra. Of the peculiar 

 species three belong to Australian genera ; Petroiea, Gerygone, and 

 Rhipidura ; one to a cosmopolitan genus, Turdus. So far the 

 affinity seems to be all Australian, and there remain only three 

 birds which ally this island to New Zealand, — Nestor iirodudus, 

 Cyanoramphus rayneri, and Notornis alba. The former inhabited 

 the small Phillip Island (close to Norfolk Island) but is now extinct. 

 Being a typical Xew Zealand genus, quite incapable of flying 

 across the sea, its presence necessitates some former connexion 

 between the two islands, and it is therefore perhaps of more 

 weight than all the Australian genera and species, which are birds 

 capable of long flights. The Cyanoramphus is allied to a New 

 Zealand broad-tailed parroquet. The Notornis alba is extinct, 

 but two specimens exist in museums, and it is even a stronger 

 case than the Nestor, as showing a former approximation or union 

 of this island with New Zealand. A beautiful figure of this 

 bird is given in the Ibis for 1873. 



Lord Howes Island. — Tliis small island, situated half-^-ay 

 between Australia and Norfolk Island, is interesting, as contain- 

 ing a peculiar species of the New Zealand genus Onjdromvs, or 



