108 







out, Xenicus stoJcesi may be readily distinguished from X. longipes by the shining slate-blue sides 

 of the neck and chest, tinged, in certain lights, with greenish, and by the patch of pure yellow 

 feathers on the yellowish-green flanks.* The immature bird, in general coloration, bears a close 

 resemblance to Xenicus gilviventris from the mountains of the South Island. Indeed, they are 

 so much alike that Dr. Sclater when cataloguing this series of birds in the British Museum 

 (' Cat. Birds,' vol. xiv., p. 453), unhesitatingly identified it as the adult of that species, and 

 the label attached to the specimen bears evidence of this in his own handwriting. But 

 Dr. Sclater apparently overlooked one very important structural character. The hind-claw in 

 this bird is only '25 of an inch in length, whereas in ordinary specimens of Xenicus gilviventris 

 it is fully double that length. In one of the specimens recently sent to the British Museum 

 by the Earl of Eanfurly, the hind-claw exceeds that length, being, as I ascertained by measure- 

 ment, '6 of an inch. 



For the first time in the North Island I saw this bird (at any rate, I feel persuaded it was) on 

 November 29th, but only on the wing, in the wooded hills just beyond the Makuri Gorge. 

 It crossed the road at a moderate height with a very laboured flight, and was immediately lost 

 among the foliage. The natives state that formerly the Bush Wren (the Matuhituhi) was 

 numerous here and at a higher elevation on these wooded ranges. 



Order PASSERIFORMES.] 



[Family XENICIDiE. 



■ ■»-? 



XENICUS GILVIVENTRIS. 



(ROCK WREN.) 



Xenicus gilviventris, Von Pelzeln; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. i., p. 111. 



To show how rare this form has become, I may mention that Mr. Carkeek, during many 

 months of exploration in the mountains of the Marlborough district, never met with more 

 than two examples. 



The traveller overland from Christchurch to the west coast cannot have failed to gaze 

 with admiration on the picturesque scenery disclosed to his view on both sides of the Otira 

 valley, the immense ranges piled one above the other — clothed with dense vegetation from the 

 base to the snow-line, commencing with huge rata and black birch trees, becoming less and 

 less at a higher elevation, and ending with the usual stunted mountain growths — and lifting 

 to the sky their rugged summits. Deeply covered with snow in winter, they present at this 

 season a magnificent picture of wild Nature, the snow often encroaching on the vegetation far 

 down the mountain-sides. In summer, when the snow-cap has disappeared, the mountain- 

 tops present bare and barren faces, with irregular patches of tussock and snow-grass struggling 

 for existence amidst the faces or taluses of loose shingle and rubble, with here and there a 

 miniature snow-field that has resisted the thawing warmth, whilst ever and anon fleecy 



* Bull. B.O.G., No. cxix., p. 15. 



