376 Transactions.—Zoologis 
hundreds. Prion vittatus and Prion banksii, in like manner no doubt, keep 
to themselves, for it is evident that the flocks in the vicinity of our coast 
when caught in the fatal storm, on the occasion I have referred to, were 
composed almost exclusively of Prion vittatus. 
I opened a large number of these birds for the purpose of ascertaining 
on what they had been feeding. As might have been expected with storm- 
tossed fugitives, the stomachs of many were quite empty. In others there 
was a black mass of comminuted matter, and in two or three of them I 
detected among this matter what appeared to be the beaks of a very minute 
cephalopod. 
PHALACROCORAX varius, Gml.—Pied Shag. 
Captain Mair writes me, under date 20th Wa :—-* I went to 
Whale Island ten days ago. The sea-birds building there are very interest- 
ing. There are some colonies of white-breasted shags on this island as 
well as at Rurima—only the one species. I found the young in every stage, 
from partly developed ones in the egg to young birds just ready for flight, 
all with white breasts and bellies. Iam going to Rotoiti in a few days to 
have a look at the shaggery there. i 
** On the island I saw some thirty crane (Ardea sacra), and I found a 
number of their nests in a cave. Those that were fully fledged were a 
beautiful light blue colour, with bright yellow legs. It was very funny to 
watch them flying into the high trees, perching among the shags, and look- 
ing very gawky; then, presently, the shags, with loud guttural noises, 
would sally forth, chasing them far and wide. 
* I may add that, although there are no tuis on the islands, korimakos 
(Anihornis melanura) are very plentiful. It was really delightful to see and 
hear them again. They abound in numbers in the shrubbery, and hearing 
them sing at daylight, carried one back in spirit to one's boyhood, at the 
North, thirty years ago!” ; 
Art, L.— Memorandum of the Ked. By the Hon. Dr. Mzxzrzs, M.L.C. 
(Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 98th September, 1378.) 
Is Dr. Buller’s ‘Birds of New Zealand’ we learn that the habits of the 
“Kea” or Mountain Parrot, ( Nestor notabilis, of Gould) are carnivorous; 
that it attacks and destroys living sheep, apparently at random. Recent 
observation leads to a belief that, in some localities at all events, it selects 
its victims and also its delicacies, 
