940 Transactions.— Zoology. 
orange-red, are of a bluish colour in the other bird, with the exception of the 
patch of papille extending from the base of the upper mandible towards the 
crown. 
The general style of colouring is the same in the two birds, although the 
tints altogether are duller in the uncrested form. There is the same con- 
spicuous alar bar of white, formed by the middle wing coverts; but in 
addition to this the uncrested bird has a patch of the same on the outer 
scapulars. All the specimens of the latter which I have examined have two 
closely approximating spots of white, nearly of the size of a crown-piece, 
about the centre of the back. On a close inspection of the example of P. 
carunculatus, now exhibited, I observe, on disturbing the feathers, some in- 
dications of these white markings, but they are so well concealed that they 
escaped my notice when I originally described this bird.* 
I think I have now sufficiently indicated the differences which may on 
further observation prove of specific value as distinguishing characters; but 
it is evident that the subject requires further elucidation before any definite 
conclusion can be arrived at. 
Arr. XXXV.—On a tendency to deformity in the Bill of Nestor meridionalis. 
By Warrer L. Burrzs, C.M.G., Sc.D., President. 
Plate. 
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 25th November, 1876.] 
In my account of the Kaka Parrot, in “The Birds of New Zealand,” I 
have mentioned} a living example which had been in the possession of 
the Upper Wanganui tribes for a period of nearly twenty years, and pre- 
sented the curious feature of its over-grown mandibles completely crossing 
each other—a circumstance which I attributed to its having been constantly 
fed on soft food, thus depriving the bill of the wear and tear incident to a 
state of nature. 
It would appear, however, that even in the wild state this species is 
liable to an abnormal development or deformity of growth in this respect, 
as will be manifest from the accompanying drawings. 
Fig. 1 represents a specimen in the Canterbury Museum ; and Fig. 2 
another in the British Museum, which was brought under my notice by 
Dr. Günther. Fig. 8 shews the normal condition of the bill in a healthy 
bird. 
* * Birds of New Zealand," p. 332, 
T Le., p. 48. 
a Má—ÀÀ 
