H. and W. Travers.—Birds of the Chatham Islands. 213 
of the Birds of New Zealand ” as belonging to the Chatham Islands is 47, but 
my son has now reason for believing that the weka (Ocydromus australis), the 
kakapo (Stringops habroptilus), and the kiwi (Apteryx australis), which were 
all inserted in the catalogue in question on the authority of a former notice of 
the fauna of the Islands, published in the fourth volume of the Linnean 
Society’s Journal—Botany—were erroneously assigned to them. Of the total 
number in the catalogue which have now been ascertained to belong to the 
Islands, my son obtained specimens of thirty-eight species, but was unable to 
procure species of Ardea sacra, Ardea poiciloptera, Limosa wropygialis, Rallus 
dieffenbachii, and Anas chlorotis, whilst the memoranda are silent as to others 
which he did obtain, and notably as to Diomedea exulans, Thalassidroma 
nereis, and Haladroma berardit. 
He obtained two species entirely new to science, which have been named 
by Capt. Hutton Petroica traversii and Rallus modestus, whilst, besides these, 
he has added five other species to the avi-fauna of the Chatham Islands, 
namely, Chrysococcyx plagosus, Haladroma berardii, Graculus africanus, 
Eudyptes pachyrhynchus, and Eudyptula minor, of which the three former 
were not even previously known to the avi-fauna of New Zealand. 
I need hardly say that the Chatham Islands are situated about 450 miles to 
the eastward of New Zealand, in lat. 42° South, and consist of one large island 
called Chatham Island, seventy miles long, and which is almost in the shape 
of an isosceles triangle, the north-western side, about thirty miles in length, 
forming the base,—of Pitt Island, which is about ten miles in circumference, 
and of several small rocky islets, of which the principal are named Mangare 
and South-east Island. The surface of the main land is undulating, and 
generally covered with grass, whilst all round it is a fringe of bush, more or 
less broad, containing a considerable number of small trees. Upon this island 
there are several lagoons, the largest of which is twenty miles in length, by 
from three to eight in breadth, the waters of which are separated from 
the sea by a sand beach from half-a-mile to a mile wide. The surface of 
Pitt Island is completely covered with bush of the same class as that on the 
main island. South-east Island contains the highest land in the group. 
Mangare is very small, and the surface stony, but nearly covered with low 
rigid scrub. Owing to the constant swell from the south-eastward it is 
extremely difficult to land on these smaller islets, as the sea rises and falls 
many feet with each wave, rendering it dangerous for boats to approach too 
closely ; indeed, it is only by patiently watching an opportunity that a landing 
can be effected, and re-embarkation is equally difficult and dangerous, whilst 
the treacherous nature of the weather increases both the danger and the 
difficulty. Tt will be seen, in the course of these notes, that my son succeeded 
in obtaining a considerable number of birds from these smaller islands, where 
