54 



Mr. Biirtlett draws the following distinction as to the colouring of the two 

 supposed species : — ■" Ap. Australis : Colour pale greyish brown, darkest on 

 the back. Ap. Mantelli : Colour dark rufous brown, darkest on the back." 

 The above descriptions are applicable, the former to the female and the latter 

 to the male of the common species. 



Mr. Bartlett, in giving his measurements of the two birds, properly 

 observes that the eutLre length, being taken from skins, is of very little 

 value ; but the difference in the general proportions (amounting to two inches 

 in the length of the bill) is also characteristic of the two sexes, the female 

 being considerably larger than the male. 



The condition of wing, ascribed by Mr. Bartlett to Ap. australis, " with 

 soft slender quills" (as figured in the Proc. Zool. Soc), is that of the 

 young bird. The length of the " straggling hairs on the face " varies in almost 

 every individual, and is certainly of no value as a specific character. 



Mr. Bartlett's strongest point is that one species has the tarsus scutellated 

 in front, while in the other it is reticulated. The descriptive and comparative 

 notes which I have collected on this point are too lengthy to be given here, 

 but they will appear in my forthcoming work on the Birds of New Zealand. 

 To summarize, I may state that I have found so great a diversity of character 

 in the size and arrangement of the tarsal scales in different examples, that 

 I do not attach very much importance to those peculiarities of structure in 

 this respect, which Mr. Bartlett deems of specific value. I have observed a 

 gradation from a regular series of quadrangular scutes, protecting the whole 

 anterior portion of the tarsus, to a reticulated surface of large irregular scales, 

 those towards the distal end being broadest. The latter condition appears to 

 be characteristic of the immature bird, the scales being detached from each 

 other and not imbricated, or with overlapping edges, as in the adult. 



Figures 1 and 2 (Plate Xll.b.) represent the wing and foot in an ordinary 

 adult female of the common species, the so-called Ap. Mantelli. 



18. Ardea sacra, Gmelin, 



It is satisfactory to find that our Blue Heron {Ardea matook) has been 

 finally identified with Ardea sacra of Gmelin ; and that we are thus enabled to 

 purge our list of so gross a corruption of the Maori, as " matook " for 

 " matuku." 



19. Eallus pectoralis. Lesson. 



I think we are perfectly justified in considering our Rallus assimilis 

 identical with E. pectoralis, the more so as Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub have 

 been compelled to reduce their Rallus Forste7'i to a synonyme of that species. 



In a paper communicated to the Zoological Society of London (November 

 26, 1869), they observe: — "It is certainly disagreeable to kill one's own 



