BurrER.— Observations on a Species of Shag. 339 
unculatus. I did not venture to pronounce the species distinct, but I sug- 
gested that if it should prove to be new, it might be fittingly named in 
honour of Dr. Otto Finsch, the well-known ornithologist. As already ex- 
plained, however (p.336), I have been anticipated by Mr. R. B. Sharpe, of 
the British Museum, who has named another recently discovered species 
from New Zealand, Phalacrocorax finschii. Strange that two ornithologists, 
working at opposite corners of the globe, should have independently and 
almost at the same moment decided on dedicating a new Shag to one of the 
Continental savants! That the true P. finschii will stand, I have very little 
doubt, for I have had frequent opportunities of observing how extremely 
cautious Mr. Sharpe always is in the discrimination of species. As to the 
bird for which I had designed the same honour, in the event of its proving 
to be new, it will be remembered that in the paper which I read before 
the Society on the 29th of July last, I expressed a strong doubt as to its 
being really distinct from Phalacrocorax carunculatus. I have lately, how- 
ever, received, by purchase, two fine specimens lately killed at Queen l 
Charlotte Sound, and on comparing these with the only determined example 
of P. carunculatus in the Colonial Museum, I observe so much difference 
that I have thought it right to exhibit the specimens and to make some 
observations upon them. 
Tt will be observed that there is considerable difference in the size, the 
respective measurements being as follows :— 
P. carunculatus. Sp. exhib. 
Extreme length ... .. 26:0 inches. 829-0 inches. 
Wing, from flexure d LR. Wi 12:5 T 
Tail be pe mU 7g BTE o. 
Bill, following curvature 2°25  ,, 3°0 ni 
Tarsus ... i WT SRS onu 80. 4, 
Longest toe and claw ... P435 o 5:0 Jt 
Another conspicuous difference is that one form is crested and the other 
isnot. Mr. Henry Travers assures me that these characters are constant. 
He met with P. carunculatus in large numbers at the Chatham Islands, and 
there was always a crest, or some indications of it, in both sexes. The 
other bird he found nesting on the White Rock in Queen Charlotte Sound ; 
and although it was the height of the breeding season, in a colony of some 
40 or 50 nests, with birds of both sexes and of all ages frequenting them, he 
did not observe a single example with a crest, or anything approaching it. 
On comparing the heads it would be seen that the bill is much larger 
and stronger in one than in the other (see Figs. 8 and 4, Plate) ; and 
although the colours of the soft parts are no safe criterion in dried speci- 
mens, it would appear that the naked spaces, which in P. carunculatus are 
