106 Transactions. 



remembers tlie Quail {Goturnix novcB-zealandice) common on Flat Island, close 

 to tte Grreat Barrier. It is quite extinct there now, and has been so for 

 several years. 



Aet. XIII. — Notes on the Birds of the Little Barrier Island. 



By Captain F. W. Hutton, F.G-.S. 



[-SeacZ hefore the AucJcland Institute, QtJi July, 1868.] 



DuEiNa last December I spent four days on the eastern side of the Little 

 Barrier Island, and noticed the following birds.* 



Another bird also lives on the island, apparently in the cliffs, and comes 

 out only in the evenings. Its cry is a peculiar kind of laugh, in a descend- 

 ing scale, and is very ridiculous to hear. I saw it twice by the light of a 

 fire. It appeared to be rather larger than a Morepork {Athene oiovee- 

 zealandice), with rounded wings, and soft flight like an owl or a j)arrot. It 

 was light-coloured underneath. I did not see the back. What kind of bird it 

 was I cannot even conjecture. 



It will be noticed that the Eawi {Apteryx mantelli) does not appear in 

 this list ; and, notwithstanding current reports, I am inclined to think that 

 it is either very rare or else does not exist on the island. I was accompanied 

 by a very good dog, but we neither heard nor saw a Kiwi during the whole 

 time we were on the island. I am also informed by Mr. Barstow, of the Bay 

 of Islands, that in 1842 Captain Wood, of H.M.S. " Tortoise," spent three 

 or four days on the Little Barrier with the express object of catching Kiwis, 

 but did not see one. Sir George Grrey told me that he also spent a day or 

 two on the south-west side of the island, looking for Kiwis, but found none. 



Akt. XIV. — JVotes on the Basin of Te Tarata, Botomahana. 



By Captain F. W. Hutton, F.G-.S. 

 Plate V. 

 \_Reacl hefore the Aucldand Institute, Gth July, 1868.] 

 On the 3rd of March last, in company with Colonel Haultain, Mr. H. 

 Clarke, and Mr. Traill, I visited the celebrated hot spring of Te Tarata, at 

 Eotomahana. As we crossed Lake Tarawera in a canoe, large volumes of 

 steam were seen issuing from the crater, but on reaching it, about an hour 

 afterwards, it was much quieter, very little steam ascending, and the water 



* See names of 22 species, marked with an asterisk, in the list of birds found on the 

 Grreat Barrier Island, pages 104 and 105. 



