THE BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND, 



By WALTER LAWRY BULLER, ScD., F.L.S., &c. 



EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS. 



"Birds, as most people know, or ought to know, form the 

 most important part of the vertebrate fauna of New Zea- 

 land ; and their importance is maintained not only when 

 they are compared with their compatriots of other classes, 

 but when regarded in reference to members of their own 

 class in the world at large 



" The birds of New Zealand, therefore, merit especial 

 attention, and we are happy to say they receive it at the 

 hands of the authors whose works are above cited. Taking 

 the field in or about the year 1865, Mr. Buller, till then 

 unknown to fame beyond the limits of his native colony, 

 brought out an ' Essay on the Ornithology of New Zea- 

 land,' which at once attracted notice in this old world of 

 ours. Some of his views were challenged by Dr. Pinsch, 

 then of Leyden, who had paid attention to this extra- 

 ordinary avifauna; and a controversy ensued. This, to 

 the credit of the controversialists, was carried on in a 

 spirit very different from that in which many another war 

 in natural-history circles has been waged ; and the happy 

 result is that on most points the combatants have arrived 

 at the same conclusion, thereby giving assurance to the 

 general public of its being the right one. The Essay we 

 have mentioned may be regarded as the preliminary 

 canter which a race -horse takes before he puts forth his 

 full strength; and Mr. Buller's book, or that part of it 

 which is as yet published, shows what he can do now that 

 the colonial authorities have allowed him to come to 

 England for the express purpose of completing his design. 



" Captain Hutton is known as an observer who, during 

 several long voyages, had proved that some rational occu- 

 pation could be found at sea even by a landsman; for, 

 instead of devoting his energies to the ordinary time- 

 killing amusements of shipboard, he watched the flight of 

 the various oceanic birds which presented themselves, and 

 speculated on the mode in which it was performed and the 



forces it brought into operation — to some purpose, as the 

 Duke of Argyll and Dr. Pettigrew have testified. The 

 pamphlet whose title we give is in some respects a not less 

 significant, if a less ambitious, work than Mr. Buller's ; 

 and though to the last must belong the crown of glory, we 

 by no means wish to overlook the useful part which Cap- 

 tain Hutton's publication will play. If here we do not 

 notice it further, it is because its value will be most appre- 

 ciated in the colony itself, while Mr. Buller's beautiful 



book appeals to a larger public 



" Of the Kakas (Nestor) Mr. Buller admits three species 

 — Nestor meridionalis, N. occidentalis, and N. notabilis — 

 the two first of which, we think, are barely separable. 

 This very remarkable genus of Parrots includes some two 

 or three other species, one of which, the N. produetvs of 

 Phillip Island, is believed to have gone the way of so 

 many animals that only inhabit small islands ; and the 

 same fate in all likelihood awaits its congeners. Most 

 animals suffer from not being able to accommodate them- 

 selves to change of circumstances ; but the very adaptabi- 

 lity of the Mountain-Kaka, or Kea, will tend to its early 

 destruction ; for, though belonging to the group of Parrots 

 distinguished by their brush-like tongue, and deriving a 

 considerable portion of their subsistence in a manner 

 worthy of the Golden Age, from the nectar of flowers, this 

 wretched Kea (N. notabilis), since the introduction of 

 sheep to New Zealand, has incurred the imputation of a 

 fondness for mutton-cutlets a VAbyssinie ; and the charge, 

 whether true or false, is likely to bring about its doom, 

 since the shepherd is apt to practise what in good old 

 times was called ' border justice,' and the species will 

 probably suffer extinction before its guilt is fully proved 

 or extenuating circumstances admitted. The Common 

 Kaka (N. meridionalis), on the other hand, is ably de- 

 fended by Mr. Buller as one of the most useful birds in the 



