BuLLER.—O» the Ornithology of New Zealand. 117 
of a fine series of specimens in the Canterbury Museum, showing the 
transitional changes of plumage. 
I communicated the result to Capt. Hutton long before the appearance of 
his “ Catalogue," and the descriptive notes which I made at the time will be 
found at page 149 of my * Birds of New Zealand." 
I confess, however, that the subject is still beset with some difficulty in 
my own mind. Supposing the plumage of C. cinereus to be the first year's 
dress of C. carunculatus, it seems to me quite inexplicable that the bird has 
never been met with in that state in the North Island. Capt. Hutton 
suggests that this is due to the comparative scareity of the species at the 
North. But during several years' residence in the Province of Wellington I 
obtained probably upwards of fifty specimens, at various times, without ever 
detecting any sign of this immature condition of plumage. i 
Admitting the comparative scarcity of the species, one would naturally 
suppose that the younger birds would be more likely to fall into the collector's 
hands than the fully adult ones. It may be suggested whether the condition 
of the Canterbury Museum specimens has not possibly resulted from inter- 
crossing ; for we have not heard of any further examples being obtained. At 
any rate, till a specimen in the supposed immature dress has actually been 
‘taken in the North Island, the point cannot, I think, be considered finally set 
at rest. 
In Dr. Dieffenbach's Report to the New Zealand Company, which appears 
in the twelfth Report of the Directors (April, 1844), I find the following 
mention of this species :—“ Amongst the thrushes I must name, first, the 
Tierawaki, with two yellow appendages at the angle of its mouth, of the form 
and dimensions of a cucumber seed. This bird is of the size of a blackbird, 
with beak and feet similar to those parts in the latter. Its plumage is a 
glossy black ; the cover-feathers of its wing and its back are of a fine red 
brown. I saw a variety, or perhaps another species, with plumage of variable 
shades of sepia." 
Aplonis obscurus, Du Bus. 
Both this species and Aplonis zealandicus (Gray) were omitted in my work, 
as I could not find the smallest evidence of the type Specimens having come 
from New Zealand. 
Rallus philippensis, Linn. 
I entirely concur with Dr. Finsch regarding the wide geographic range of 
this species, the plumage being too variable to admit of the recognition of 
several local species, as some naturalists have suggested. But I cannot think 
that he is justified in retaining M. Lesson’s name of Rallus pectoralis. 
Allowing that the varieties that have been brought from Polynesia proper, 
