296 Messrs. Mathews and Iredale on a 



as a new species and given it a new name witli the hope of 

 thus arousing interest. 



When Buller recorded the first specimens he classed them 

 as aberrations of Ocydromus earli (=GaUiraUus australis). 

 They certainly approach this species more than they do 

 G. hectori, but they differ from both in several respects. 



The general upper coloration of the latter is 'Msabella- 

 brown or fawn coloured," or " sepia centrally, with sandy 

 edges ^' giving a sandy appearance. The primaries are 

 fulvous or rusty buff with regular bars, while the tail is 

 also regularly barred. 



G. australis is generally of a rusty fulvous above, the 

 primaries deeper with irregular darker barring, which is 

 generally missing on the outer edge, and the tail is 

 unbarred. 



The present species lacks altogether the rusty coloration 

 of the latter and has the tail unbarred, but the primaries are 

 regularly barred and of the same coloration as those of 

 G. hectori. 



It is obvious that if these birds be simply considered as 

 semi-albinistic aberrations, we would still find in the normal 

 form an easily recognisable subspecies. 



The birds all came from the neighbourhood of Westport, 

 on the west coast of the South Island, and this fact at once 

 draws attention to the Kiwi which T. H. Potts named 

 Apteryx mollis. Notwithstanding this nomination, this form 

 has been ignored as simply an albinism, though, as the 

 following remarks show, it merited some better treatment. 



In the Trans. New Zeal. Inst. vol. v. 1873, p. 196, Potts 

 wrote : — " It is probable that other species will be added to 

 this interesting genus {Apteryx) ; for the past two or three 

 years we have known of the existence of a white Kiwi, 

 information concerning it having been scantily furnished at 

 intervals by some wandering miner or prospector. Speci- 

 mens have at different times been obtained from the bush in 

 the Martin Bay district. Erom the descriptions that have 

 been gathered they are not albinos, and their occurrence has 

 been too frequent for them to be classed amongst specimens 



