BuLLER. — On Certain Species of N.Z. Birds. 



123 



corpore subt0.s flavido lavatis : slk spuria et primariis exterioribus extiis 

 cyanescentibus : caiida sordide viridi, subtus flavicanti-brunne^ — rostro nigro, 

 versus basin albido — pedibus brunnescentibus. 



Adult. — General plumage grass green, brighter on the crown, sides of the 

 head, face, and ear-coverts ; back, rump, and all the under surface strongly 

 tinged with yellow ; primaries bright green on their outer vanes ; the margins 

 of the outermost primaries, as well as their coverts and the whole of the 

 bastard quills, indigo blue ; tail-feathers dull green, olivaceous or yellowish 

 brown on their under surface. Bill black, greyish white towards the base of 

 lower mandible ; legs and feet dull brown. 



COMPABATIVE MeASUKEMENTS. ' 



. 



P. unicolor. 



P. novcB-'A 



'xalandice. 



Extreme length 



13-25 inches 



11-25 



inches 



Wing from flexure 



6 





5-25 





Tail 



6-25 





6 





Culmen 



1-25 





•8 





Tarsus ... ... 



•9 





-8 





Longer fore toe and claw 



14 





1-15 





Longer hind toe and claw 



1-25 





1 





Art. XXVIII. — Remarlcs on Captain Hutton^s Notes on Certain Species of 

 New Zealand Birds, — By Walter L. Buller, D.Sc, F.L.S., etc. 



(With Illustrations.) 

 [Received hy the Wellington Philosophical Society, March, 1874.]* 



Gerygone flaviventris, G7'ay. 

 In a paper which I had the honour of reading before the Society in 

 November, 1870 (Trans. N.Z. Inst., Yol. IIL, pp. 37—56), I referred at some 

 length to the nest-building habits of Gerygone flaviventris, and in the course 

 of my observations I made the following remark : — 



" Among the substances used as building materials by this bird, spiders' 

 nests are always conspicuous ; indeed, in some sjDecimens the whole extei'ior 

 surface is covered with them. The par-ticular web chosen for this purpose is 

 an adhesive cocoon of loose texture, and of a dull green colour. These 



* Dated at London 26th Deceuaber, 1873. 



