222 Messrs. E. L. and EH. L. C. Layard on the 
penché; but the forest generally is of the ordinary timber 
of New Caledonia, the ground beneath, if not carpeted with 
ferns and lycopods, bare of vegetation and easily traversed. 
Having thus described the ground, let us now particu- 
larize the species obtained, or seen, by us in the two trips 
made (one by each of us) to Lifu. LL. L. was on Maré for a 
few hours, but not long enough to do any work. We hope 
some day to be able to work it and Uvéa in a thorough manner ; 
but the difficulty of locomotion precludes our visiting many 
localities that we much desire to see. Some day also we 
hope to reach the “ Isle of Pines,” where, we hear, birds are 
abundant. 
1. Urospizias approximans (V. & H.). 
Not uncommon; several specimens in various stages of 
plumage were procured. Canon Tristram remarks (loc. cit.) 
that “‘ if the sexes are correctly marked, [our] examples are 
considerably smaller than specimens from Tasmania in length 
of tarsus, tail, and wing.” We.can only say that the sex of 
all our specimens is carefully determined by us, a magnifying- 
glass being often used for this purpose, and that we have one 
solitary very old female fully as large as any described from 
Australia. 
These birds, in Lifu, are a great scourge to the hen-yards ; 
here, on New Caledonia, we have chiefly found reptiles in 
their stomachs. We have lately (August 23, 1879) obtaimed 
a young one just able to fly. Some of our young specimens 
from Lifu are so singularly rufous that we at first thought 
we had a new species. Native name ‘‘ Wakoon” or ‘ Uzu.”’ 
2. STRix DELIcATULA, Gould. 
A single specimen was brought to us alive, out of which 
the captor had pulled all the wing-primaries, to adorn his 
beautiful woolly head! He was very indignant when we 
would not buy the bird at his price, but finally consoled him- 
self by saying it would make good “kai-kai” (food), and 
carried off his victim blinking and snapping all round!  Lifu, 
““Méa;”’ Maré, “ Mené.” 
