Travers.- -On the Distribution of New Zealand Birds. 183 



there for that purpose, and who was diligent in his enquiries, had never 

 heard it even suggested that either Stringops or Apteryx had existed there. 

 He was informed that a bird described as resembling a New Zealand Ocy- 

 dromus was formerly found abundantly on the main island of the group, 

 but he believes that the bird referred to was Rallus dieffenbachii, of which 

 Dr. Buller tells us that the last recorded specimen was obtained by Dr. 

 Dieffenbach in 1842. At all events I am not disposed to accept statements 

 as to the occurrence either of Stringops or Apteryx in this habitat until 

 something more satisfactory than the alleged " declaration of the Natives " 

 is brought forward in support of it. 



It has been suggested that specimens of Stringops and of some South 

 Island species of Apteryx may have been taken to the Chathams by Maori 

 voyagers, which I do not however believe, and therefore, whilst the occur- 

 rence of a form of Ocydromm upon this group would not have been very 

 surprising, that of Stringops and Apteryx would, if for no other reasons 

 than, firstly, that no part of the islands presents physical conditions at all 

 similar to those which obtain in the known habitats of those birds ; and, 

 secondly, that had these birds ever existed there at all, they would certainly 

 have been extirpated by the Morioris long before the latter were themselves 

 practically extirpated by the Ngatitama. Assuming, however, that the 

 Chatham Island habitat may be eliminated from the question, the con- 

 tinued existence in both the main islands of New Zealand of such forms as 

 Stringops habrojrtilus and Apteryx oiveni is a most noteworthy and extraor- 

 dinary fact. It will be observed that all the other birds mentioned in the 

 tables, as well those common and peculiar to both the main islands as 

 those common to them and to other habitats, possess powers of flight 

 which prevent any suggestion of impossibility in accounting for their dis- 

 tribution, and that in the cases in which particular species in one of the 

 main islands are represented by species in the other, the ordinary laws of 

 variation may be sufficient to account for the observed differences. But 

 the persistency of such types as Stringops and Apteryx oweni stands upon a 

 different basis, unless we resort to the suggestion that each of these species 

 may have been introduced by Maori voyagers from the South to the North 

 Island within comparatively recent times, it being noteworthy that both 

 are used as call-birds and pets by the native inhabitants of the South 

 Island districts in which they are found. 



Setting aside the supposed occurrence of Stringops, Apteryx, and Ocydro- 

 mus in the Chathams, we have certain facts in connection with the species 

 peculiar to that group, which add considerable strength to the conclusion 

 derived from an examination of its flora, namely, that it was formerly 

 directly connected by land with the main islands of New Zealand. In the 



