47 



Taiipo, wlieve the chiefs occasionally assembled to act out two important 

 matters, — to cliscnss politics and eat kouras (cray-fish). A few years after the 

 Norway I'at fully appeared, the kouras were no longer plentiful, and as the 

 New Testament made Maori politics rather unnecessary, the usage of meeting 

 no longer exists. The natives assured me that the Norway rat caught the 

 cray-fish by diving. Rowing up the rivers you see little deposits of shells. 

 Upon enquiry I found they were the selections of the Norway rat, who, by 

 diving for these fresh-water pipis, provide a kinaki (relish) for their vegetable 

 suppers." 



In writing of the Nestor hyijo-polius ( = Nestor ^neridioncdis), Gould 

 remai*ks, — " A very great dissimilarity, both in size and colouring, occurs in 

 diflerent examples of this species, so miich so as to induce a belief, both in my 

 own mind and in that of others, that they may constitute two species. ''' * * 

 It will be a question for the colonists to determine if there be more than a 

 single species, or if the differences seen in the skins sent to Europe are indica- 

 tions only of loccd varieties, and to what cause they may be due." 



In my former notes (Trans. iV. Z. Inst, Yol. ii., p. 387), I stated that 

 I had forwarded to Europe, for examination, specimens of a larger Nestor 

 from the Middle Island, which differed considerably from the typical Nestor 

 meridionalis. Mr. G. R. Gray, to whom I sent the skins, submitted them 

 to Dr. Finscli for identification, and this naturalist refers to them in the 

 Journal far Ornithologie, 1870, iinder the name of " Buller's Nestor mon- 

 tanus /" but this is a mistake, as I have never ventui'ed to assign, or even to 

 suggest, a Sf)ecific name for this bird, although in wxiting to Mr. Gi-ay I 

 pointed out differences that might be deemed of specific value. In a letter to 

 myself (under date July 13), Dr. Finsch observes, — " Mr. Gray sent me for 

 examination the two Nestors [large and small] sent by you. I have inspected 

 both with the greatest care, but I am not able to distinguish them as different 

 species. In comparing only these two specimens, no one would hesitate to 

 take them as distinct, but I have seen so many specimens of this Nestor that 

 I would not be at all astonished to see examples differing even more than 

 these. A specimen from the low-lands, sent by Dr. Haast, is quite inseparable 

 from your Alpine Nestor. A general variation seems to be the rule in the 

 genus Nestor. Scarcely two specimens are precisely and in every respect alike. 

 This is not only the case with your common species, but also with the rare 

 Nestor productus." 



I fully admit the great variability of colour in specimens of Nestor meridio- 

 nalis, and have myself directed attention to it (vide Essay on New Zealand 

 Ornithology, p. 11) ; but this is a question, not merely of colour, bxit of two 

 distinct races, a larger and a smaller, and both confined to separate geograjihic 

 areas. 



It appears to me that it is not of the least consequence to science whether 



