218 JSssaijs. 



in this country, possessing only few representatives o£ tlie family, the species 

 have been very much confused by naturalists. Dr. Latham, in his " General 

 Synopsis of Birds," figaired the Milvago leucurus (an American bird) under 

 the name of Kew Zealand falcon, and subsequent authors copied the 

 mistake. Darwin, in his " Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle," (1841,) 

 on the authority of Mr. G-. E,. Gray, of the British Museum, rectified 

 Latham's error, and Mr. Gray, in his " List of Birds," (1842,) appended to 

 Dieffenbach's " I*? ew Zealand," classed together Gmelin's Falco noves-zealandice 

 and Forster's Falco liarpe under the former title, considering this bird the 

 hahu of the natives, Avhile he referred harearea to the species characterized 

 by Mr. Gould (Trans. Zool. Soc, 1837) under the name of Falco hrunnea. 



This naturalist afterwards, in his " Birds of New Zealand," (Voyage 

 or Erebus and Terror,) reduced these names to synonyms, retaining as 

 specific Falco novce-zealanclicB ; and again, more recently in his synopsis 

 (Ibis, July, 1862), he has recognized two distinct species under the new 

 generic term of Sieracidea. 



Owing to a misapplication of the native names kahu and karearea, in 

 Mr. Gray's first list, writers in this country have invariably fallen into the 

 error of considering our large brown hawk the Falco harpe, and our sparrow- 

 hawk the Falco hrunnea, of that author. 



There is reason to believe that, when we become better acquainted with 

 the history of these hawks, it will be found necessary to expunge H. hrunnea 

 from our list of species, and to regard it merely as H. novcs-zealandice in an 

 immature state of plumage. On the other hand, future exploration of the 

 interior, and especially of the remote alpine regions of the South Island, will 

 doubtless add some new forms to this portion of our ornithology ; for 

 whereas the neighbouring continent of Australia jiossesses nearly thirty 

 members of the family, we can enumerate at present only three — Sieracidea 

 novce-zealandice, H. hrunnea, and Circus gouldi. 



The bird described as Falco aurioculus, or kahukorako, is the last- 

 named species in the hoary plumage of extreme age." -- .i^<-<.'^.-.. rw..., , i j ( ,■ 



Eam. Steigidj^. — Of the genus Athene we possess in this country at 

 least two representatives, Athene novce-zealandice and Athene alhifacies, the 

 latter being confined in its range to the most southern parts of the South 

 Island. 



There is evidence also of the existence of another owl, of much larger 

 size, and an inhabitant of the sub-alpine parts of the Canterbury Province. It 

 probably belongs to the restricted genus Sirix, in v/hich the ornithology of 

 Australia is so peculiarly rich. It is described by Dr. Haast as being as 

 large as the Circus gouldi, and " of dark brown plumage ;" and in the notice 

 of its discovery communicated to the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 



