Order PASSEEES.] [Fam. TURDID^E. 



TUENAGEA HECTOBI. 



(NORTH-ISLAND THRUSH.) 



Otagon tanagra, Schl. Ned. Tijdschr. Dierk. iii. p. 190 (1865). 

 Turnagra hectori, Buller, Ibis, 1869, p. 39. 

 Turnagra tanagra, Gray, Hand-1. of B. i. p. 284 (1869). 

 Keropia tanagra, Finsch, J. f. O. 1870, p. 323. 



Native names. 

 Piopio, Korohea, and Tiutiukata. 



Ad. statura T. crassirostris sed rostro crassiore, supra olivascenti-brunneus : pileo nusquam striolato : uropygio 

 caudaque clare rufis : gutture albo : pectore superiore cinerascente : abdomine medio albo, parte ima et 

 subcaudalibus conspicue flavicantibus : hypocbondriis olivascentibus : rostro et pedibus saturate brun- 

 neis : iride flava. 



Adult. Crowu of the head, hind neck, and upper parts generally clear olive-brown ; throat pure white ; 

 breast and abdomen ashy grey, darker on the former, the abdomen and the under tail-coverts tinged with 

 yellow ; sides olive-brown, washed with yellow ; wing-feathers dark olive-brown, dusky on their inner 

 webs ; tail-feathers and their upper coverts bright rufous, paler on their under surface, the two middle 

 ones tinged above with olive-brown. Irides yellow ; bill and feet dark brown. Totel length 11 inches ; 

 wing, from flexure, 5 - 25; tail 5; bill, along the ridge -8, along the edge of lower mandible 1; tarsus 

 l - 25 ; middle toe and claw l - 25 ; hind toe and claw 1. 



Young. Birds of the first year differ in having the feathers at the base of the upper mandible, the tips of 

 those covering the crown and sides of the head, the small feathers fringing the eyelids, and a broad zone 

 on the upper part of the breast bright rufous ; the primary and secondary wing-coverts are also largely 

 tipped with the same colour, and the grey of the underparts is darker. 



Ik January 1869 I communicated to 'The Ibis' the description of a new species of Thrush 

 inhabiting the North Island, and differing from the South-Island bird [Turnagra crassirostris) 

 not only in plumage, but in its superior size and more strongly developed bill ; and I named it in 

 compliment to Dr. James Hector, F.R.S., Director of the Colonial Museum and Geological Survey 

 of New Zealand. This was done not merely as an expression of personal friendship and esteem, but 

 as a tribute to one who may justly be termed the father of the scientific institutions of the colony. 

 In an editorial footnote to my paper, Professor Newton suggested that this species might be 

 identical with one described, in a Dutch work, by Professor Schlegel, four years before, without, 

 however, any habitat being assigned to it. This opinion has since been verified by a careful 

 comparison of the specimen I have figured with the type of Schlegel's Otagon tanagra, in the 



