BurrerR.— Ornithology of New Zealand. 217 
structure as they are singular in their habits and economy ; the Notornis, a 
giant brevi-pennate rail, allied to Porphyrio in the form of its bill, and 
to Tribonyx in the structure of its feet; the Strigops, or ground parrot, 
known as the kakapo, and resembling in some respects an owl; the Nestor, 
another remarkable parrot genus, of which four species inhabit New Zealand, 
and a fifth, probably now extinct, recently existed on Phillip Island; and the 
beautiful huia (Heteralocha gouldi), confined to the mountains, and restricted 
in its range to narrow geographical limits—all of which will be more 
particularly noticed in their more natural order. 
But, before proceeding further, it may be well to call the attention of 
naturalists to a hitherto unnoticed fact of considerable interest in connection 
with the geographical range or distribution of some of our birds. It consists 
in this, that between several of the species of the North and South Islands 
respectively there is a remarkable and very manifest representation. Thus, 
the saddle-back (Oreadion carunculatus) of the North is represented in the 
South Island by C. cinereus, a closely allied species, but differing in the 
colour of its plumage; the weka (Ocydromus earli) is represented by a 
smaller species (O. australis) so closely resembling it in appearance and 
habits that they are called woodhens by the settlers of both islands, and by 
them as well as by the natives are generally regarded as identical; the 
popokatea (Mohoua albicilla) is represented by another species (M. ibis 
cephala), differing in colour, but so closely allied to it that the natives apply 
the same name to both; the toutouwai (Petroica longipes), to which 
precisely the same remark pii, is represented by Petroica albifrons ; the 
Callæas cinerea by another species, distinguished by the colour of its wattles ; 
and Apteryx mantelli by its smaller congener, A. oweni. 
A similar fact is noticed by Mr. Darwin (Voyage of Beagle) as occurring 
in the Galapagos Archipelago, where three different islands were found to 
possess each a different species of Mimus, all closely related to one another, 
but exclusively restricted to their respective islands. 
We shall now proceed to a closer but very rapid survey of our ornithology, 
noticing the families in the order of their natural arrangement, and briefly 
enumerating the species at present known. The birds of the Auckland 
Islands do not appear to belong properly to the New Zealand fauna, and will 
therefore be omitt 
Fam. Farcoxrpa.— Probably among no section of birds has greater con- 
fusion or uncertainty prevailed than among the Falconide. The great 
difference in size between the male and female, the progressive variation of 
plumage to which they are subject before reaching maturity, and the 
difficulty of procuring an adequate number of specimens for examination 
and comparison, render it often very difficult to elucidate the species. Even 
