Travers.—On the Distribution of New Zealand Birds. 179 
habitats, and of such occasional visitants as Hirundo nigricans, Eurystomus 
pacificus, Platelia regia, and others, but certainly appears to be a heavy task 
for Nyclicorax caledoniensis and Zosterops lateralis. Mr. Wallace himself, 
however, calls attention (in the work above referred to) to the fact, that 
small and weak birds are often carried accidentally across great widths of 
ocean by violent gales, and instances the case of the large number of North 
* American birds which are from time to time found on the coasts of Europe 
during the prevalence of westerly winds. The occurrence in New Zealand, 
of forms common to it and Australia is, therefore, explicable without resort- 
ing to any supposition of a former land connection; and the discovery in 
New Zealand, within the few years which have elapsed since the colonization 
of the islands, of no less than eight instances of occasional visitants from 
Australia and Tasmania, gives strength to the supposition that they were 
aided in their transit by strong north-westerly winds. In this connection 
I may mention that the common sparrow has recently found its way to the 
Chatham Islands without man’s intervention, no doubt assisted across the 
intervening waters by a north-west gale, and although both Mr. Wallace 
and Dr. Buller treat Zosterops lateralis as a true New Zealand form, I think 
it pretty certain that we owe its presence here and ‘in the Chathams to a 
similar cause. The enormous increase in the numbers of this bird which 
has taken place both in Australia and New Zealand, is evidently due to a 
corresponding increase in the quantity of suitable food provided by the in- 
troduction, into both countries, of various kinds of succulent fruits, and of & 
great variety of foreign insects. The Maoris, who now capture the Zosterops 
in thousands for potting-down, and who are very shrewd and intelligent 
observers, unhesitatingly assert that it is a stranger and of comparatively 
recent appearance in these islands. 
Mr. Wallace is in error, moreover, in supposing that the Zosterops found 
in the Chathams differs from the form which occurs in the main islands, 
everting now to the principal objects of these notes, I find from the 
Hand-book that the seven orders which I am dealing with comprise (exelu- 
sive of occasional visitants from Australia) 19 families, 47 genera, and 88 
species, the occasional visitants from Australia and Tasmania numbering 
8 species belonging to 6 families and 7 genera. 
Of the 47 genera, 25 have only one species each, 10 have two species, 7 
have three species, 8 have four species, and 2 have five species. 
Of the 88 species (excluding, as above-mentioned, the occasional yisi- 
iants) 66 are peculiar to the main islands the Chathams and the Auck- 
lands together, 18 are common and peculiar to both the main islands, 8 are 
common and peculiar to the main islands and the Chathams, 8 are com- 
mon and peculiar to the main islands and the Aucklands, 22 are common 
