433 Mr. Tom Iredale on the Surface Breeding 



Black head and throat, black belly, black legs. . 30 

 Very light head, lighter throat, white belly, 



light legs 44 



Light head and throat, white belly, dark legs . . 5 

 Black head and throat, black belly, light legs . . 4 

 Pure white head, throat and belly, light legs . . 1 

 A consideration of these would make the birds fall into 

 three classes — dark, light, and medium ; moreover, 102 

 would he called light, 98 dark, and 64 medium. That is 

 practically 40 per cent, are dark, 40 per cent, light, and 

 20 per cent, medium. Such figures seem to prove that no 

 differentiation can be made in view of these results. . 



Included in the 264 hirds were 35 pairs ; these last con- 

 sisted of two birds nesting together and obviously mated ; in 

 sixteen cases odd birds were seen together, and in nineteen 

 cases similar birds were coupled. In only two cases were a 

 very light bird and a very dark one paired, and in no case 

 were two very light birds observtd mated, and in only one 

 case were two black birds together. Such results again 

 confirm the impossibility of suggesting incipient forms as 

 recognisable. 



Hutton gave different times for the beginning of the 

 breeding season. The first eggs were carefully noted and 

 the coloration of the sitting bird taken. Out of the first 

 eighteen met with all over the island four were dark, four 

 were light, and ten were medium. 



Whilst making these notes, careful attention was given 

 to locality, but though a few individuals together seemed to 

 show a similar style of coloration, such patches were of little 

 extent and rare occurrence. 



/ can only conclude that on Sunday Island the birds, what- 

 ever their coloration or habits, belong to one species. There 

 were no varieties or incipient species that could be diferentiated 

 by dissimilar habits or nesting places. 



The Meyer Islands (Plate XV. fig. 2), through stress of 

 weather, could not be examined so thoroughly as Sunday 

 Island, but the birds there were subjected to a severe 

 criticism and variation was found to be rampant. At first 



