Notes on the Ornithology of New Zealand. 

 By Walter Buller, F.L.S., F.G.S. 



[The extract from the " Ibis," to which the following paper refers, was com- 

 municated to the Wellington Philosophical Society on the 1 9th June, last ; 

 the discussion is a continixation of that commenced in Vol. i. of the " New 

 Zealand Institute Transactions," p. 105. The communication was received 

 too late for insertion in its proper place, in the first section of the 

 " Transactions." — Ed.] 



Professor Newton, the editor of "The Ibis," has kindly favoxired me with 

 corrected proofs of a paper on New Zealand Birds, forwarded to him by Dr. 

 Otto Finsch, of Bremen, for publication in that journal. 



Anything from the pen of so accomplished an ornithologist as Dr. Finsch, 

 cannot fail to be read with delight, and as the paper in question deals particu- 

 larly with species described by myself as new, it naturally possesses for me a 

 more than ordinary interest. 



No one can appreciate more fully than I do the labour and research 

 which Dr. Finsch has bestowed on Polynesian Ornithology generally, contrast- 

 ing, as it does, with the indifference and neglect with which collections from 

 New Zealand are usually treated by both English and Continental zoologists. 

 Any recognition of their labours, whether in the nature of approval or criticism, 

 is encouraging to local naturalists, who, far removed from the great centres of 

 civilization and learning, and wanting the aid of Libraries and Museums of 

 Natural History, work always at a great disadvantage. 



The free discussion of doubtful or disputed points cannot fail to be useful, 

 and I am therefore glad that Dr. Finsch has afforded me an opportunity of 

 further elucidating the subjects treated of in a former paper. 



In the article under notice, Dr. Finsch condemns several of my new 

 species, having, as he believes, identified them with forms already known to 

 science. I am quite ready to disclaim the credit of authorship, if it can be 

 conclusively shown that any of my so-called new species are invalid, for I have, 

 in common with Dr. Finsch, but one object in view, namely, the advancement 

 of Ornithological Science. But I have a right to examine the data on which 

 any adverse opinions are founded ; and, lest it should appear pi'esumptious in 

 me to combat some of the conclusions of an ornithologist of far greater 

 experience than myself, and one possessing, in the Continental Museums, 

 better opportunities for comparison and research, I would here mention that I 

 enjoy at least one important advantage over the best closet naturalist, — that of 

 being able to make field observations and to study the objects themselves in a 

 state of nature. Dr. Finsch has himself remarked in a former paper (Journal 

 filr Ornith., 1867, p. 342) when treating of my Gerygone assimilis, "it is 

 difficult, and scarcely safe to decide on this new species from skins alone," and 

 it is moreover probable that in one or two instances he has been unconsciously 

 misled by specimens forwarded to him wrongly named, and purporting" to be 

 typical examples of my new species. 



I beg to sixbmit the following remarks on Dr. Finsch's paper, which will 

 be found appended hereto, together with the original article (from "The Ibis") 

 which evoked it. 



