XXIX 



MiCROTRiBoxYX; gcn. 11. Simile generi " Tribon,jx " dicto, 

 sed alis robustis^ primariis quam ciibitales longioribus, 

 distinguendum. 



Typiis M. ventralis (Gould). 



By permissiou of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, Dr. 

 Sharp E was enabled to lav on the table some specimens 

 of Oci/dromi belonging to the Rothschild JNIuseum. These 

 were from the Buller collection, and were supposed to 

 illustrate the species of Ocydromus recognized by Sir Walter 

 Buller in his second edition of the ' Birds of New Zealand '; 

 but Dr. Sbarpe found it very difficult to follow the author in 

 his conclusions, and he infinitely preferred the more simple 

 view as to the number of species which had been ado^ited in 

 the first edition of the ' Birds of New Zealand/ 



In the second edition Sir Walter Buller, after discussing 

 at some length the number of species, which had been 

 debated between Professor Hutton and himself, came to the 

 conclusion that five species should be recognized, viz. : — 

 0. greyi, sp. nov. ; 0. fuscus (Du Bus) ; 0. earli, Gray ; 

 0. australis (Sparrraan) ; 0. hrachypterus (Lafr.). The 

 plates in Sir Walter Buller^s work did not help much 

 towards the identification of the s^Decies ; for although in 

 nearly every case the actual specimens figured were now in 

 the Rothschild collection, it Avas almost impossible to re- 

 cognize them in the chromo-lithographic plates themselves. 

 The question was further complicated by the misleading way 

 in which the species were arranged in the book referred to. 

 Thus, between 0. greyi and 0. earli (the latter not being 

 even figured) was interposed 0. fuscus, the most distinct of all 

 the Weka Rails ; so that the idea was conveyed that 0. greyi 

 of Buller and 0. earli of Gray were widely different species, 

 whereas Dr. Sharpe stated that, in his opinion, they were not 

 distinguishable. Sir Walter Buller wished to restrict the true 

 0. earli to the South Island, because it seemed to be identical 

 with some specimens procured by Mr. Reischek in the latter 

 island. As a matter of fact, however, the type specimen of 

 0. earli was a young bird ; and even if there were two species 



