BuLLEB. — On Naw Zealand Ornitholorjy. 53 



of tte plumage are altogetter lighter. The foUowmg are the measurements 

 of this species :— 



JExtreone length, 9i inches ; winff, from flexure, 4t ; tail, 4| ; tarstts, 1-| ; 

 oniddle toe and claw, 1^ ; hind too and claiv, 1 ; iill, along the ridge, f ; along 

 the edge of lower mandible, 1. 



10. It would unquestionably he wrong to separate, generieallj, the two 

 species of Popokatea, Mohoua alhicilla and M. ochrocephala, in the manner 

 proposed, for they are closely allied. In form they resemble each other 

 although their plumage is different, and their habits are precisely the same. 

 They are representatives of each other in the North and South Islands 

 respectively. 



In the same division (Certhiadcs) the addition of a new species, Xenicus 

 haasti, BuUer, is recorded. (See " Ibis," 1869.) 



11. Mr. Grould, in his recent "Handbook," has retained the specific title 

 of Zoster ops ccerulescens ; but there can be no doubt that, following the law 

 of priority, Zosterops lateralis, Latham, is the correct appellation. 



The family Luscinidce has recently received another addition in Sp)he- 

 nceacus ritfescens, Bnller, from the Chatham Islands. (See " Ibis," 1869.) 



12. If our MhipiduTa flahellifera is to be regarded as identical with R. 

 albiscapa, Gould, it must at any rate take the rank of a well-defined local 

 variety. A comparison of specimens presents several appreciable points of 

 difference, and these distinctive marks being constant, the species, according 

 to the generally accepted rule, is entitled to recognition. But ornithologists ■ 

 are not agreed, and probably never will be, as to what amount of difference 

 constitutes a " species," and what a " local variety " or race. In treating of the 

 Australian species, Grould remarks : — " Specimens from Tasmania are always 

 much darker than those of the continent, and have the tail-feathers less marked 

 with white ; others from Western Australia, again, are somewhat lighter in 

 colour, and have the white markings of the tail more extensive than in 

 those I collected in South Australia or TsTew South "Wales." The species from 

 Western Australia has been characterized as new by the learned Berlin pro- 

 fessor, M. Cabanis, under the name of Bhipiditra preissi ; and I consider that 

 the New Zealand bird has quite as good a claim to rank as a distinct species. 



13. AVe must accept Herr Fiusch's conclusions with respect to ;S?^r/_^aps 

 greyi, but it must be remembered that the species rests entirely on the 

 authority of a single skin in the British Museum, which may yet prove to be 

 a mere variety of Strigops hahroptilus. Dr. Haast writes me that he has 

 obtained scores of kakapo on the west coast of the Canterbury Province, 

 and that they all belonged to the last-named species. I have compared 

 specimens from the South Island with an example brought to me by the 

 natives from Taupo (North Island), and cannot detect any difference. 



