234 Transactions. — Zoology. 



over which the moa roamed. This must have been followed by a long insular 

 period, ending in another continent still disconnected from Australia and 

 South America, which continent again sank and New Zealand assumed 

 somewhat of its present form. 



Passing now to the Carinate division of birds the first thing that strikes 

 us is the fragmentary nature of this part of our avi-fauna (if we exclude the 

 Grallse and Web-footed birds), thus strongly contrasting with the Struthious 

 division. 



Of the first six orders we possess, excluding the Chatham and Auckland 

 Islands, forty-five species, thirty of which are endemic. These have been 

 referred to thirty-one genera, ten of which are found nowhere else, and these 

 thirty-one genera belong to twenty families, one of which {String opidce) is 

 peculiar to New Zealand. Two families only, the honey-eaters (Meliphagidce) 

 and the starlings {Sturnidce) contain more than two genera. The first shows 

 afl&nity to Australia, but it must be remarked that out of the four species of 

 this family, belonging to four different genera, one genus only {Zosterops) is 

 found in Australia, and the little bird (the " white-eye ") that belongs to this 

 genus is known to be quite a recent arrival in this country. The Sturnidce on 

 the other hand show an affinity with Polynesia, for one species only ( Calornis 

 metallicus) of this family is found in the north of Australia and New Guinea. 

 It should, however, be noticed that three other species are found in the latter 

 island. In this family also our three species belong to three different genera, 

 two of which {Creadion and Heteralocha) are found nowhere else, while the 

 other (Aplonis) is very characteristic of Polynesia, and Aplonis caledonicu^, 

 which is said to have been found in New Zealand, occurs also in Norfolk 

 Island and New Caledonia. 



It is remarkable that our two owls should both be peculiar to New 

 Zealand, and that one of them [Sceloglaux alhifacies) should belong to a genus 

 not found elsewhere, for the owls are usually widely spread birds, more so indeed 

 than the hawks. It is also worthy of notice that Strix delicatula, which 

 extends its range over most of the Pacific Islands and Australia, should be 

 absent from New Zealand. 



Our parrots present several points of interest. The kakapo {Strin'gops 

 hahroptilus) is found nowhere else, the genus Nestor extends only to Norfolk 

 Island, while our paroquets, although belonging to a genus (Platycercus) 

 equally plentiful both in Australia and Polynesia, show a greater affinity to 

 the latter, one species [P. novce-zealandice) ranging not only to Noi'folk 

 Island but also to New Caledonia. It is remarkable that we have no 

 representatives of the cockatoos and grass-paroquets so common in Australia 

 and Tasmania, for our own climate is quite suitable for them. The absence of 

 Polynesian forms is not so remarkable as they belong chiefly to more tropical 



