Order PASSEEIFOKMES.] 



[Family TIMELIID^. 



BOWDLERI A PUNCTATA 



(FEEN-BIRD.) 



Sphenoeacus punctatus (Quoy & Gaim,)., Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. i., p. 59. 



Me. Boberts, of the Government Survey Staff, met with this species in considerable 

 numbers on Open Beach Island, five miles from the mainland, inhabiting the low scrub. 



The female is somewhat smaller than the male ; in other respects the sexes are precisely 

 alike. Irides brown ; bill dark slate colour ; legs and feet light slate colour. 



I have lately noticed, at Papaitonga, that this species has a habit of hopping over 

 the ground to feed under the thick marsh vegetation. This may probably account for 

 the usually abraded condition of the tail-feathers at the close of the season. 



I have received a pair of Fern-birds from Stewart Island, which seem to represent 

 a larger race than the one inhabiting the North and South Islands. In plumage it is 

 precisely similar, except that the black spots on the breast appear to be more pronounced. 

 These black markings become more conspicuous on the breast and sides, occupying 

 the whole centre of the feather. The male gives the following measurements : Total 

 length, 7*5 in. ; wing from flexure, 275 in. ; tail, 3'75 in. ; bill, along the ridge, 0'5 in. ; along 

 the edge of lower mandible, 0'7m. ; tarsus, 0'9in. ; middle-toe and claw, 0'85in. 



Professor Hutton sends me the following note: "Last year I sent a specimen of 

 Sphenoeacus punctatus to Mr. F. E. Beddard for dissection. He now writes to me : 'I find 

 that it is quite a typical Acromyodian Passerine bird, and that the position assigned to 

 it in Sharpe's ' Cat. of Birds ' in the British Museum is quite in accordance with its anato- 

 mical structure.'" 



EOWDLEEIA FULYA. 



(FULVOUS FEEN-BIED.) 



Sphenoeacus fulvus, Gray ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. i., p. 61. 



Having examined further specimens of this species, I think that it ought be kept distinct, 

 on the grounds indicated by Mr. Gr. B. Gray, but it is no doubt very closely related 

 to Sphenoeacus punctatus. 



■''• The generic name of Bowdleria was instituted by Mr. Walter Eothschild, after considering the affinities 

 of the African species of Sphenoeacus, and comparing with the New Zealand birds. He writes : " While 

 investigating these questions I found that only the New Zealand species of Sphenoeacus have ten tail-feathers, 

 the African ones not. The African species, besides having twelve tail-feathers, have the operculum over the 

 nostrils bare of feathers, while it is feathered in the New Zealand ones; the outer webs of the tail-feathers are 

 fuller and more connected, while they are very lax and separate in the species from New Zealand, and have a 

 longer and stronger wing. There is, therefore, no doubt that Sphenoeacus is not only placed wrong in the key 

 given by Sharpe (Cat. B. Brit. Mus., vii., p. 93), but that it is more reasonably divided into two genera, as Sharpe 

 would have done if he had counted the tail-feathers of the African Sphenoeacus, and noticed the other differences. 

 The generic name being founded on the African species, it become^ necessary to create a new name for the 

 New Zealand group, which I propose to call Boivdleria, gen. nov., in remembrance of Dr. Bowdler Sharpe's 

 invaluable Catalogue of the Timeliidce" (Novit. ZooL, hi., p. 539, 1896). 



