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Order PASSERIFORMES.l 



[Family MUSCICAPIDiE. 



PETE, (EC A V ITT AT A. 



(DUSKY ROBIN.) 



Muscicapa vittata, Quoy et G-aim.; Yoy. de l'Astrolabe, pi. 3, fig. 2. 



The ' Transactions ' of the N.Z. Institute contain a record (vol. xxiv., p. 710) that at a meeting 

 of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, held on October 1st, 1891, Professor Hutton 

 exhibited the skin of a Flycatcher which had been sent to him by Mr. Joshua Eutland, of 

 Pelorus Valley, with the statement that it had been shot on a fruit tree at Kenepuru, near 

 the foot of Mount Stolus, by Mr. J. McMahon. At the request of Mr. Eutland the skin 

 had been given to the Canterbury Museum, where it is still preserved. Professor Hutton 

 expressed his belief that the bird was identical with the English Spotted Flycatcher 

 (Muscicapa grisold) ; adding that he was not aware that any of these birds had been turned 

 out in New Zealand, and that it was not a specimen likely to be introduced. 



Of course, the evidence would have been more complete if the bird had been delivered 

 to the Museum in a fresh condition, for we all know how liable mistakes are apt to occur 

 with dried skins, so much depending on individual memory. 



I think it is extremely unlikely that this English species would ever occur wild in New 

 Zealand, for the natural habitat of this bird is Europe in summer, extending in winter to 

 Southern Africa and North-western India. 



Assuming that this example was obtained at Kenepuru, as alleged, I think it far more 

 likely to be a straggler of the well-known Australian species (P. vittata), which bears a general 

 resemblance to the English bird. I have accordingly placed it, provisionally, under that 

 head. 



This species is abundantly distributed all over Tasmania, and has likewise been recorded 

 from Victoria and South Australia. 



PSEU DOCxEHYOxONE F L A V I VENT EI S . 



(GREY WARBLER.) 



Gerygone flaviventris, Gray ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. i. p. 44. 



I always associate this little bird in my mind with the finding of a dead one, more 

 than forty years ago, at the foot of an aged kauri tree — one that had probably seen eight 

 hundred years or more — and a tiny creature, indeed, it seemed beside the monarch of the 

 forest. The circumstance is impressed upon my recollection because it is so unusual to find 

 the bodies of birds that have died from natural causes. This is an observation that has 

 been made by naturalists all over the world, as to mammals as well as birds. It is due, 



