BuLLER.— On some rare Species of New Zealand Birds. 315 
kind) being obtained. At any rate, till a specimen in the supposed immature 
dress has actually been taken in the North Island, the point cannot, I think, 
be considered finally set at rest.” 
Here again, strange to say, after a lapse of nearly twenty years, the 
required evidence is forthcoming, and my Creadion cinereus recovers the 
specific rank so long denied to it. 
In 1881, Mr. A. Reischek, a very ardent collector, wrote to me as 
follows :— About Creadion cinereus, I have this to state: In December, 
1878, when I was on the west coast of the South Island, I shot about 
twenty of both kinds, and of both sexes. What were supposed to be the 
young of C. carunculatus (your Creadion cinereus) I found, on dissection, to be 
fully adult birds, both male and female. My observations on this point were 
perfectly reliable. In December, 1880, I stayed on the Hen (an island in 
the Hauraki Gulf) three weeks, and shot about thirty specimens of Creadion 
carunculatus, all of them being in the common saddle-back plumage. I 
could only determine the sex in each case by dissection, and what appeared 
to be the young birds differed only from the adult in having the wattles 
smaller and lighter in colour. I roamed over the whole island during my 
stay there, and never saw a bird in the plumage of your Creadion cinereus” 
(which is_confined to the South Island, where both species commingle). 
In 1882, and again in the early part of the present year, Mr. Reischek re- 
visited the Hen, and on both occasions remained there a considerable time 
exploring every part of the island, and collecting its productions. «On his 
last visit he saw probably forty examples of this bird, all in the plumage of 
C. carunculatus, and collected many specimens of both sexes and all ages. 
On the Little Barrier he found the species scarce, and obtained only two 
specimens ; while on the Chickens and Island of Kawau he did not meet 
with this bird at all. In some which he dissected the testes were almost 
microscopic, the only external differences between these and the old birds 
being that the plumage was not so glossy, and the wattles not so large or 
bright. In the adult male these ornamental appendages, of the size of 
cucumber seeds, are of a beautiful orange colour, and in the adult female 
a little lighter. In the young birds they are still lighter and extremely 
minute in size. | 
To place the matter, however, beyond all doubt, he found, on one occa- 
sion, two adult birds feeding a young one, and was successful enough to 
secure all three birds, which he carefully preserved and marked. He was 
loath to part with these specimens, but to enable me to demonstrate the 
specific value of Creadion cinereus he handed all three birds over to me, and 
I have now the pleasure of submitting them to you, marked respectively 
male, female, and young. 
