226 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Art. XXXI. — Preliminary Bemarhs on some New Zealand Birds. 

 By Otto Finsch, Ph.D. of Bremen, Hon. Mem. N.Z.I, C.M.Z.S., Hon. 



Mem. Brit. Orn. Union, etc. 



[Read before the Otago Institute, Wth June, 1874*.] 



Since the publication of my Bevision of the Birds of New Zealand (Journ. 

 fur Orn. 1872, pp. 81-112, 162-188, and 241-274) I have had the pleasure of 

 again examining a good many New Zealand birds, having received a valuable 

 collection from my excellent friend Dr. Haast, and many rare and important 

 species through the kindness of Captain Hutton, Dr. Hector, Mr. Kirk, and 

 Mr. Purdie. The New Zealand Institute forwarded to me, with incomparable 

 liberality, a most valuable collection of rare types for comparison, which has 

 been very useful to me in my researches on New Zealand ornithology, and it 

 is with great pleasure that I pay my heartiest thanks to all my friends who 

 have assisted me so effectually in my labours. I now beg leave to offer the 

 results of my investigations, which, although short, contain useful notices on 

 many New Zealand birds, and are an abstract of a more extensive paper that 

 will shortly appear in the Journal fiir Ornithologie, under the title of 

 Corrections and Additions to my Bevision of the Birds of New Zealand. 



This paper may be regarded as the forerunner of my Synopsis of the Birds 

 of New Zealand, which I hope to be able to offer to my scientific friends in New 

 Zealand in a short time. This little book, which will be printed in English, 

 will contain descriptions and a brief history of all the native birds of New 

 Zealand, which number at present about 156 species, a subject on which I 

 have been working zealously and with great care for more than seven years. 



No. l,t p. 87. Falco novce-zealandicBy Gml. 



The question whether there are two or one species of Falcon in New 

 Zealand has not yet been settled satisfactorily. Dr. Buller, in accordance 

 with Dr. Haast and Mr. Gurney (Ibis 1872, p. 332), expresses his belief that 

 there are two — a larger and a smaller ', but he does not give, even in his large 

 work, sufficient characters to distinguish them. The valuable remarks by 

 Captain Hutton (Ibis, 1873, p. 100), and Mr. Sharpe (?6., p. 328), prove also 

 that further researches are required to settle the question. 



No. 2, p. 92. Instead of Circus assimilis, Jard., put C. approxlmans^ 

 Peale. 



As it is impossible to make out the C. assimilis of Jardine and Selby 

 without comparison with the typo, and as it will most probably turn out to be 

 the young of C. jardinii, as stated by Lord Walden (Trans. Z.S. VIII., 1872, 



* Dated at Bremen 5th April, 1874. 



t The niunbcrs relate to my Revision dor Vugcl Neuscclands, as cited above. 



