Order PELECANIFORMES.l 



[Family PLOTIDiE. 



PLOTUS NOVJl-HOLLANDI^. 



(AUSTRALIAN DARTER.) 



Plotus novas hollandiae, Gould ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 175. 



So far as I am aware, no further example of this Australian species has occurred in 

 New Zealand, the specimen in the Canterbury Museum being quite unique. 

 Mr. North writes (' Eec. Austr. Mus.,' ii., p. 21) : — 



The Trustees of the Australian Museum have lately received the eggs of Plotus novce hollandice, taken by 

 Mr. J. L. Ayres at Lake Bulohe, in the Winimera district of Victoria, on April 1st, 1891. The nest was built 

 at a height of about fifteen feet, on the branch of a Eucalyptus standing in the water. It was outwardly 

 composed of sticks, lined inside with twigs, and contained five eggs, one of which was unfortunately broken 

 in descending the tree. The eggs are elongated, oval in form, tapering gradually towards the smaller end, 

 where they are somewhat sharply pointed ; the shell has a thick, white, calcareous covering, only a few 

 scratches here and there revealing the true colour underneath, which is of a pale blue. Length (A) 2*41 

 x 1-45 inches; (B) 2'32 x 1 "42 inches ; (C) 2"34x 1*45 inches ; (D) 2*43 Xl'47 inches. Although very late in 

 the season, Mr. Ayres found another Darter's nest on the same day, containing five newly-hatched young 

 ones. 



This species is found, all over Australia, but is more sparingly distributed in the extreme southern and 

 western portions of the Continent. 



Order PELECANIFORMES.] 



[Family SULIDiE. 



SULA SERRATOR. 



(AUSTRALIAN GANNET.) 



Dysporus serrator (Gray), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 177. 



Through the kind attention of Mr. Hill, the Inspector of Schools at Napier, I was afforded 

 an opportunity of visiting a famous breeding-ground of the Gannet at Cape Kidnappers. 

 The following short account of my visit may be interesting to my readers. 



In the afternoon of December 30th we started in a buggy from Napier and drove some 

 fourteen miles to Clifton, the picturesque and well-ordered homestead of the Messrs. Gordon, 

 where we remained a short time for refreshment. Mr. G. F. Gordon gave us some interesting- 

 particulars about the Gannet "rookery" on his property, which we were about to visit, and 

 lent us horses for the trip along the coast. It was intensely hot, the thermometer regis- 

 tering 130° in the sun and 93° in the shade— undoubtedly the hottest day of the season. 

 We rode about five miles along the beach, then left our horses and scaled the side of the 

 cliff and crossed the slope beyond (a distance of about a mile altogether), and then we found 

 ourselves right above the great Gannet nursery, to which we at once descended by a very 



