Burrren.— Further descriptive Notes of the Huta. 911 
also, which has likewise become well-nigh extinct on the main-land ( Miro 
longipes), although not in such numbers as the former. 
The facts^I have mentioned are interesting as furnishing another 
illustration of the observed natural law, that expiring races of animals and 
plants linger longest and find their last refuge on sea-girt islands of limited 
extent. 
Art. XXII — Further descriptive Notes of the Huia ( E acutirostris.) 
By Warrer L. Burrzn, C.M.G., 
Plate V. 
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 17th November, 1877.] 
HrrERALocnHa acutirostris, Buller.—‘ Birds of New Zealand,” pp. 63-68. 
To the full account which I have already published of this rare species, 
I wish to add the following notes :— 
Young female.—Differs from adult bird in having the entire plumage of 
a duller black, or slightly suffused with a brownish tinge and with very 
little gloss on the surface. Under tail-coverts tipped with white, and the 
terminal white bar on the tail washed with rufous-yellow—especially in the 
basal portion. Wattles small and pale-coloured. Bill only slightly curved, 
as represented in fig. 1. 
In another specimen in my possession, apparently a year older, the tail- 
coverts are without the margin, the white on the tail-feathers is purer, and 
the bill is perceptibly longer, with a darkened tip. 
Young male.—In comparing a specimen received at the same time with 
the above, the same general remarks apply, except that the under tail- 
coverts are not tipped with white at all, while the soft feathers on the lower 
part of the abdomen are largely tipped with pale rufous and white. The 
pale rufous wash on the tail-bar is likewise more conspicuous. The bill 
presents the outline shown in fig. 2. 
For purposes of comparison I have reproduced in the accompanying 
plate (fig. 8) my former drawing of the bill in the fully-developed female. 
Fig. 4 represents a curious deformity, if it may beso called, in a specimen 
whieh recently passed through my hands. The lower mandible having 
been at some time accidentally broken off, the upper mandible had con- 
siderably overgrown it, becoming somewhat thickened beyond the point of 
friction. 
