I I._ ZOOLOGY. 



Art. XXII. — On the Ornithology of New Zealand. 



By Walter L. Buller, D.Sc, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.R.G.S. 



Plates VII. and VIII. 



{Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 2Sth October, 1874.] 



Ornithology, like every other branch of natural science, is progressive, and 

 this is especially the case in a country like New Zealand, where the charm of 

 novelty tends to keep alive a spirit of inquiry and to promote habits of 

 observation. The fact that my recently published work on the Birds of 

 New Zealand is already out of print, while there is a very general call for a 

 new and revised edition, is satisfactory evidence of the increased scientific 

 activity in our midst, and may, I think, be accepted as a fair indication that 

 ornithology is becoming a favourite study in the colony. 



If we are to succeed in getting a thoroughly true and exhaustive history 

 it can only be by thus awakening general interest in the subject, and by 

 encouraging those who have opportunities for observation to note down and 

 place on record any fact or occurrence that may strike them as new or 

 interesting in the habits or domestic economy of our native birds. 



In order to work out satisfactorily this or any other branch of zoology we 

 require the co-operation of a number of independent observers in various 

 parts of the coimtry, and the affiliated societies of the New Zealand Institute 

 as now constituted, present to all such workers a favourable medium for placing 

 their observations on record. 



Although much has been written about the Birds of New Zealand it is 

 quite a mistake to suppose that the subject is exhausted. In the natural 

 history of even the commonest species, closer observation will continually 

 bring some new fact to light or develope some new feature of interest ; and in 

 the case of many of our rarer birds, we at present know really very little of 

 their habits, and absolutely nothing of their nests and eggs or manner of 



taring their young. Even with so common a bird as the "Woodhen (Ocydromus 

 awtraUs) there is work still left for the field naturalist. The species presents 

 so much variety in size and style of colouring that the inquiry into the 

 existence of local races becomes very interesting. Captain Hutton, who 



