Hvrrox.—On Phalacrocorax carunculatus. $35 
from Kerguelen’s Land, the Chatham Islands, and New Zealand, in the 
Otago Museum, and I have no hesitation in confirming Dr. Finsch’s opinion 
that there are two quite distinct species. 
The Falkland Islands and the Kerguelen’s Land birds have the gular 
pouch naked ; the white of the throat extends over the sides of the upper 
part of the neck, and the caruncles at the base of the bill are large, project- 
ing considerably above the line of the front, the two meeting, or nearly 
meeting, in the median line above the bill. In the Chatham Island and 
New Zealand birds, there is a band of white feathers along the centre of the 
gular pouch; the sides of the upper neck are dark, and the caruncles are 
reduced to small papillæ, which do not project above the line of the front, 
and are divided by the feathers of the front. 
But, although it is easy to show that there are at least two species, it is not 
easy to say which name should be applied to each. Forster, no doubt, first 
described the New Zealand bird, and afterwards erroneously identified the 
South American bird with it, but it is doubtful whether he had applied the 
name carunculatus to the New Zealand bird before he had examined those 
in Terra del Fuego, and as his manuscripts were not published until 1844, 
it is immaterial for the present enquiry whether he did or not. Gmelin was 
the first to name the birds, and he gave the name carunculatus to the smaller 
carunculated bird without a crest, and cirrhatus to the larger and crested 
bird.* Gmelin says that both birds come from New Zealand only, but he 
took his birds from Latham, and Latham says that cirrhatus occurs in New 
Zealand only, while carunculatus is rare in New Zealand, and common in 
South America. The smaller size, the caruncles, and the locality would all 
point to carunculatus as the South American bird, but, on the other hand, 
the New Zealand bird appears never to get a crest. 
Dr. Kidder gives the length of a Kerguelen's Land bird at 231 in. ; the 
specimen in the Otago Museum is rather larger. Dr. Buller gives the 
length of birds from New Zealand as 32 in., and of birds from the Chatham 
Islands at 26 in. (Trans. N.Z. Inst., IX., p. 339). The Chatham Island 
birds are evidently smaller than those from New Zealand, but neither 
Latham, Gmelin, Brandt, nor Bonaparte had seen birds from the Chatham 
Islands. Brandt or Bonaparte appear to be the first to state that both 
species came from South America, and when Dr. Finsch had to transfer one 
back again to New Zealand, he took carunculatus. The evidence is, how 
ever, I think, in favour of the New Zealand bird being cirrhatus; and, as 
the Magellan Straits bird truly merits the name carunculatus, while the New 
Zealand bird does not, I think it would be better to change Dr. Finsch's 
nomenclature, 
* The number of tail-feathers can be omitted, as both species have 12 tail-feathers, — 
