Bfllek. — On New Zealand Ornitliolocjij. 51 



2. lu speaking of the distribution of representatwe sjjecies, nortli a,nd 

 soutli, as being a " hitherto unnoticed fact," I referred, of course, to the New 

 Zealand birds alone. I did not intend to imply that the fact was new in 

 geographic ornithology ; on the contrary, I referred particularly to an 

 instance mentioned by Darwin as occurring in the Galapagos Archipelago. 

 As a further example of this peculiar local distribution, I may instance the 

 Piopio. Turnagra crassirostris is a South Island species, while Turnagra 

 hectori, Buller, (" Ibis," 1S68), is confined exclusively to the North Island. 



Bearing on this subject, Dr. Hochstetter has the following interesting 

 remarks : — " New Zealand was perhaps a large continent when the Moas 

 were first created. And if we suppose this, or at least that the two islands 

 were formerly contiguous to each other, we of course suppose also that the 

 separation took place so long a time ago, that the originally identical 

 species, after the separation of the two islands, may have been changed in 

 the course of time into the present varieties or species. According to 

 Professor Owen the birds of South Island present stouter proportions, a 

 compact, rather bi;lky frame of body, such as Dinornis rohustus, elepliantopus, 

 crassus, and Palapteryx ingens, while those of North Island are distinguished 

 by more slender and lengthy forms, like the Dinornis giganteus and gracilis. 

 (" New Zealand," p. 191.) 



3. A small swallow has occasionally made its appearance in New Zealand. 

 In the summer of 1851 Mr. F. JoUie observed a flight of swallows at "Waka- 

 puaka, in the vicinity of Nelson, and succeeded in shooting one. A sj)ecimen^ 

 " shot by Mr. Lea, at Taupata, near Cape PareweU, 14th March, 1856," I have 

 identified with UglocJielidon iiigricans (Clielidon ariored), G-ould, the "tree 

 swallow " of the colonists. The specimen is slightly larger than Australian 

 examples with which I have compared it ; but we are informed by G-ould 

 that considerable difference exists both in size and in the depths of colouring 

 of specimens killed in New South Wales, Swan Eiver, and Tasmania. ("Hand- 

 book," I., p. 111.) It is a migratory species, visiting the southern portions of 

 Australia and Tasmania, arriving in August and retiring northward as autumn 

 approaches. 



"Wonderful as it may appear, there can be no doubt that the New Zealand 

 examples are visitants from the continent of Australia, and that to reach this 

 country they have performed a journey, on the wing, of fully 1,000 miles ! 



4. It will be seen, on reference to the "Essay," that when I noticed the 

 absence of Picidce as a remarkable fact, I was speaking of the peculiarities 

 of the zoological province as a whole, and not of New Zealand birds particu- 

 larly. It is admitted by our leading ornithologists that the total absence of 

 this important tribe in the Australasian fauna is one of its most prominent 

 prnithological features. 



