BuLLER. — Replies to IluUorCs Notes. 129 



[Mr. A. H. Garrod, in his exhaustive account of the anatomy of this bird 

 (Proc. Zool. Soc, 1872, pp. 643 — 7), states that the tongue is "slightly bifid 

 at its apex, and a little prolonged backwards at its lateral borders."] 



" Halcyon vagans. 



" I have never known an instance of this bird catching fish ; like the rest 

 of the genus it subsists entirely on insects and crustaceans." 



[Captain Hutton is quite mistaken on this point. I have myself observed 

 our bird catching fish in the manner described ; and Mr. Potts, who is known 

 to be a very accurate observer, states that " fish and Crustacea furnish some 

 portion of its food supply " (Trans. N.Z. Inst., 1869, Vol. II., p. 53). Nor 

 do "the rest of the genus subsist entirely on insects and crustaceans." 

 Dr. Jerdon states that Halcyon smyrnensis catches fish, "for which it some- 

 times dives," and that Halcyon pileata "feeds both on fish and insects." 

 Halcyon gularis is said to be a fish-eater ; and Mr. Motley declares that 

 Halcyon coromanda "subsists entirely on fish." Dr. von Heugtin states that 

 Halcyon semicmrulea is " more of a fish-eater than fond of Orthoptera," and that 

 Halcyon chloris likewise habitually fishes. To come nearer home, I may add 

 that Mr. E. P. Ramsay, of Sydney, records that he has watched Halcyon 

 sanctus " catching flies from the surface of the water, and occasionally a stray 

 fish or two."] 



" Prosthemadera nov^-zealandi^. 



"The bird described and figured as young must surely be a variety. 

 I have seen several young specimens, but none of them had a white crescent 

 on the throat." 



[The young figured in my work is from a specimen in the British Museum. 

 My artist has somewhat exaggerated the white, and given it too much of a 

 crescent form. I must refer the reader to my description of the young 

 (" Birds of New Zealand," p. 88), where this feature is specially mentioned.] 



"Anthornis melanura. 



" Dr. Buller is certainly in error in saying that this bird is dying out all 

 over New Zealand, for it is one of the commonest of birds in the South Island, 

 and can be seen in almost every garden. The district in which it is all but 

 exterminated corresponds far better with the district thicklj' inhabited by 

 Maoris than with the district thickly inhabited by 3fus decumanus. I have 

 never observed any bright-coloured feathers in its nest." 



[The extensive wooded district lying between Whangarei and the North 

 Cape is not inhabited by Maoris at all, and Captain Hutton's argument there- 

 fore fails. Dr. Hector, who made a geological survey of this district in 1868, 

 did not meet with a single Anthornis, whei-eas formerly these birds existed 

 there iu thousands ! As Captain Hutton has " never observed any bright- 



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