BuLLEB. — On the Bed-tailed Tropic Bird. 219 



whicli and the present the generic appellation of Thalassarche has been 

 given), the beautiful grey on the sides of the mandibles and the yellow 

 mark at the base of the lower mandible, will at all times distinguish this 

 bh'd from the other members of the genus. The stomachs of those I 

 obtained in Eecherche Bay contained blubber, the remains of large fish, 

 barnacles, and other crustaceans." 



Art. XXVI. — Oti the Addition of the Red-tailed Tropic Bird (Phgeton 

 rubricauda) to the Avifauna of New Zealand. By Walter L. Buller, 

 C.M.G., Sc.D., F.L.S. 



[Iliad before the Wellington Philosophical Soicety, 12th January, 1878.] 

 In the hst of the Birds of New Zealand compiled by Mr. G. E. Gray and 

 published in " The Ibis" of July 1862, the Eed-tailed Tropic bird is included 

 among the species of Pelecanida, the habitat assigned being Norfolk and 

 Nepean Islands. On the publication of my Essay on the Ornithology of 

 New Zealand (1865), in the absence of any positive evidence of its occur- 

 rence in our seas, I decided to omit this bird from our list of species, and it 

 has been rigidly excluded since. 



The fine specimen of the bird, however, which I have the pleasure of 

 exhibiting to-night, and which was shot off the " Three Kings" by Mr. 

 Henry Man*, and the further information which I have been able to collect 

 respecting it will fairly establish the right of this species to a place in our 

 avifauna. 



The bird is well-known to the Ngapuhi tribe at the north, under the 

 name of Amokura, and they set a high value on the long red tail-feathers 

 which they exchange with the southern tribes for greenstone. Almost 

 every year, after the prevalence of easterly gales, some specimens are 

 washed ashore (generally dead) at the North Cape or in Spirits Bay. The 

 natives of that district go out systematically to hunt for them at these 

 periods. Owing to their rarity these plumes are more prized than those of 

 the huia or kotuku, and in one instance a valuable slab of pounamu was 

 given by a Hawke Bay chief in exchange for three feathers, one of which 

 is now in the possession of the Manawatu natives. 



The allusion is to thi3 bird in the love-song of the fairies, commencing — ■ 

 Kiatia taku rangi 

 Te kapu o te amokura, etc. 



Come, deck my head 

 With amokura plumes. 



