BunnER.—On New Zealand Ornithology. 53 
of the plumage are altogether lighter. The following are the measurements 
of this species :— 
Extreme length, 9% inches; wing, from flexure, 4$; tail, 4}; tarsus, 14; 
middle toe and claw, 15 ; hind toe and claw,1; bill, along’ the ridge, $; along 
the edge of lower mandible, 1. 
10. It would unquestionably be wrong to separate, generically, the two 
species of Popokatea, Mohoua albicilla and M. ochrocephala, in the manner 
proposed, for they are closely allied. In form they resemble each other 
although their plumage is different, and their habits are precisely the same. 
They are representatives of each other in the North and South Islands 
respectively. 
In the same division (Cerfhiade) the addition of a new species, Xenicus 
haasti, Buller, is recorded. (See “ Ibis,” 1869.) 
11. Mr. Gould, in his recent “Handbook,” has retained the specific title 
of Zosterops caerulescens ; but there can be no doubt that, following the law 
of priority, Zosterops lateralis, Latham, is the correct appellation. 
The family Luscinide has recently received another addition in Sphe- 
næacus rufescens, Buller, from the Chatham Islands. (See “ Ibis,” 1869.) 
12. If our Rhipidura flabellifera is to be regarded as identical with R. 
albiscapa, Gould, it must at any rate take the rank of a well-defined local 
variety. A comparison of specimens presents several appreciable points of 
difference, and these distinctive marks being constant, the species, according 
to the generally accepted rule, is entitled to recognition. But ornithologists 
are not agreed, and probably never will be, as to what amount of difference 
constitutes a “ species," and what a “local variety” or race. In treating of the 
Australian species, Gould remarks :—“ Specimens from Tasmania are always 
much darker than those of the continent, and have the tail-feathers less marked 
with white; others from Western Australia, again, are somewhat lighter in 
colour, and have the white markings of the tail more extensive than in 
those I collected in South Australia or New South Wales." Thespeciesfrom - 
Western Australia has been characterized as new by the learned Berlin pro- 
fessor, M. Cabanis, under the name of Rhipidura preissi ; and I consider that 
the New Zealand bird has quite as good a claim to rank as a distinct species. 
13. We must accept Herr Finsch’s conclusions with respect to Strigops 
greyi, but it must be remembered that the species rests entirely on the 
authority of a single skin in the British Museum, which may yet prove to be 
a mere variety of Strigops habroptilus. Dr. Haast writes me that he has 
obtained scores of kakapo on the west coast of the Canterbury Province, 
and that they all belonged to the last-named species. I have compared 
specimens from the South Island with an example brought to me by the 
natives from Taupo (North Island), and cannot detect any difference. 
