strange New Zealand Wood-Hen. 29? 



showing a mere accidental and rare variation either of 

 A. oweai or A. australis ; the plumage is stated to be 

 remarkably loose, soft, and flocculent. It is suggested that 

 the name of mollis would not be inappropriate as its specific 

 designation. A specimen of this beautiful little Ajjteryx in 

 the Dunedin Museum has the bill slightly curved, showing 

 an arc elevated about one-fifteenth of its length. 



" Bill from gape to point 3 in. 9 lines. 



Tarsus 2 5 



Middle toe and claw 2 4 



" Plumage white, extremities of the feathers more or less 

 stained with yellowish ; bristly integument at the base of the 

 mandibles yellowish ; narrow yellowish stain round the eye ; 

 irides brown^ feathers soft to the touch ; habitat, bush about 

 Martin Bay, west coast of Otago. 



" Other specimens have been obtained at Greymouth." 



Albinism is a very noticeable characteristic of the birds 

 of New Zealand, the majority of the endemic species 

 having been noted as presenting such aberration, whilst 

 it is very remarkable that albinisms have been already 

 recorded among most of the introduced birds. Yet we 

 have no examples of fixed albinism throughout the avifauna; 

 at the same time the melauistic tendency has been just 

 as often remarked, and we have quite a number of fixed 

 melanisms. We can easily account for these melanistic 

 forms, as, where they have mostly originated and many 

 still live, the country is densely bush-clad, with a very 

 heavy rainfall. 



The peculiarity of the bird under discussion and of 

 Apterijx mollis Potts^ is that these "albinistic " forms have 

 developed in this same bush-clad country with its heavy 

 rainfall, and which, theoretically, should prohibit the evo- 

 lution of such aberrations. Yet, according to Potts — and 

 in this case also — these " albinisims " are frequent. We are 

 quite unable to suggest any solution that would satisfactorily 

 account for the apparent fixation of such forms under the 

 conditions noted. 



