v>f 





^\\' 



*. 



t 



V 



inj 





/Vi 



I 





^^ 



■• u,.,.. 



> ^-.: 





i'^ued ir- ^■ 



uii' l(»i>^,i ,. 



«^ 



Yi ^ 



0^ yy 



%f x) ■ 



5) 



•^4 . 



— ; tibial plume! 



-^aof. of quills 



.-- --,nd the eves 



\f\r 



W iu the Chri^^^'^'hurck 

 "Ji both cases lia\'i 



» O 



n»iT»j-t 



^. in 



I 



IV X b ^A 



giveu above. 



Ulaud, and now, ^th tk 

 ' ihe details of tkir 

 i the tibial plumes are of 

 ^ .Jthough ih.amptrf 

 •, obtained bv Mr. 

 . ..ithanother>tlie 



lO 



p 



gc;, -^^fic and literary 

 -.•-^.% ..1th regard to 



:bj. 



appe 



ar to be 





1 ; f^i ^ ' ,, -, these 



oiJi- 



f 



ba^ ''1 earlier 



the 



3 



writings of Layard, Haast, and Taylor, under the erroneous title of Falco Jiarpe. Mr. Gray him- 

 self afterwards, in his ' Birds of New Zealand ' (Voy. Ereb. and Terror), partially rectified this 

 error by introducing the Circus in its proper place ; but the misapplication of the native names 

 was continued. In this work Mr. Gray substituted the prior title of Falco novce zealandiw, Gmel., 

 for F. harpe, Forst., with F. australis (Homb. et Jacq.) correctly added as a synonym. 



educed Gould's F. brunnea to the rank of a synonym; but in a subsequent list (Ibis, 1862, 



He like- 



wise r 



/ 



M 



Exped. 1848), referring both forms to Kaup's genus Hieracidea. 

 description of //. brunnea was founded on an immature bird, in a condition of plumage exactly 

 corresponding with the young of H. novce zealandice. This circumstance, together with the great 

 difference in size between the male and female, led myself, among others, to the conclusion that 

 the two birds were referable to one and the same species*. Dr. Otto Finsch (Journal fiir Orni- 

 thologie, 1867, p. 317) expressed his belief that //. brunnea was the female of //. novm zealandice 

 a decision based (as he has since informed me) on Forster s account of the bird ; but in a subse- 

 quent paper {op. cit. 1870), referring to my observations on the subject, he adopts the view of its 

 being the young of that species, quoting, at the same time. Dr. Haast's opinion to the contrary. 

 In the last pubHshed list of New-Zealand birds f, only one species is admitted, the compiler 

 remarking that it is very variable in size, and that " a large male can be distinguished from a 

 small female by its more slender legs, which are 0-6 of an inch in circumference in the male, and 

 0-88 of an inch in the female." On the other hand, several excellent local observers have always 

 contended that they could distinguish a larger and a smaller species, the former differing in some 

 of its habits from the common Bush-Hawk, and frequenting the open country in preference to the 

 woods. Mr. Gurney also called attention to the subject in a letter to 'The Ibis' (1870, p. 535), 

 in which he gave the following dimensions of examples that had come under his notice : 



List of Specimens. 



H. novce zealandice. 



Adult. Auckland Island. (Mus. Brit.) 



Ditto, ditto. (Mus. Erit.) 



Immature. 'New Zealand. (Mus. Korvic.) 



H, hrunnea. 



Adult. ITew Zealand. (Mus. Erit.) 



Ditto, ditto. (Mus. Erit.) 



" $ " immature. New Zealand, (Mus. Worvic.) 



Long, tot 



Alse a 

 carp. 



Caud 



m. 



18-0 



19-5 



19-0 



]5-0 



14-75 



14-5 



m. 



11-5 



11'75 

 11-75 



Tarsi. 



Dig. mcd 

 c. ung. 



in. 



7-75 



8-25 



m. 



9.9 



ZD 



2-25 



8-0 



9-5 



6-25 



9-25 



9-25 



6-25 



6-0 



in. 



2-0 



2-0 



2-25 



2-0 



2-0 



2-5 



2-0 



1-5 



1-5 



1-75 



The small specimen of ff. brunnea, in the Norwich Museum, marked ? , is, no doubt, as 

 Mr. Gurney suggests, incorrectly labelled; for I have never met. with so small an example of that 



* Vide Trans. K Z. Instit. vol. i. p. 106, 1868. 



t ' Catalogue of the Eirds of Nevr Zealand,' by F. W. Hutton, Geol. Survey of N. Z. : 1871. 



b2 



