

Okdeb PASSBEIFOEMES.] 



[Family TUBDID/E. 



T IT R N A G E A TANAG 11 A . 



(NOETH-ISLAND THEUSH.) 



Turnagra hectori, Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. L, p. 27. 



I confess that I relinquish the distinctive name of Turnagra hectori with regret ; but when 

 such a specific name, for example, as Or ex crex or Nycticorax nycticorax meets with universal 

 acceptance, in deference to the law of priority, my objection to such an unhappy combina- 

 tion as Turnagra tanagra loses much of its point. After all, this species is now practically 

 a thing of the past, and it matters not much by what name it is distinguished. 



As lately as February, 1902, Mr. W. T. Morpeth sent to the Auckland papers the 

 description of a "new bird" he had shot in the Lower Ohura, in the southern part of the 

 King Country. He stated that the natives did not appear to know its name, and that his 

 object in writing was to get the bird identified. My attention having been called to the 

 paragraph I immediately wrote to the New Zealand Herald as follows : — 



There can be no doubt that the bird described' is the Piopio, or native Thrash of the North Island. 

 It differs specifically from the South Island Thrush (Turnagra crassirostris) . It not only differs in plumage, 

 but is of superior size, and has a more strongly developed bill. Many years ago it was described by 

 me, and n&med Tiirnagra hectori, in compliment to Sir James Hector (see 'Ibis,' 1869, p. 39). 

 The species has become almost extinct, although thirty years ago it was very common in the woods 

 around Wellington and the Hutt. Further north it has always been extremely rare. I never met 

 with or even heard of more than one specimen in the Auckland Province. This was shot by myself 

 in the Tangihua woods (Kaipara District) in the summer of 1852 — just fifty years ago ! It was quite 

 unknown to the natives of the district, bat one old woman recognised it as the Korohea, saying that it 

 was plentiful enough in the days of her girlhood. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. J. D. Climie, District Surveyor, I received from the 

 Makuri Ranges a fine specimen of this rare species, positively the first I had seen in the 

 flesh for twenty years and more. 



This bird measured 11'75 in. in length, the extent of wings being 16 in. 



It is to be hoped that the Little Barrier Island having been acquired by the Govern- 

 ment for the purposes of a "native birds' sanctuary," at least one pair of the North Island 

 Thrush (which is easily caught when found) may be obtained, and liberated there, so as to 

 save the species from ultimate extinction. I have heard from surveyors and others that it 

 is occasionally met with (always in pairs) along the Hunterville line of road, and in the 

 wooded district north of Wanganui. 



The South-Island Thrush (T. crassirostris) is still comparatively plentiful in some parts 

 of the West Coast, but its numbers have been grievously diminished by the diggers' dogs, and 

 by wild cats, stoats, and weasels. The North Island bird has all but disappeared, and the 

 specimen referred to above is the only one I have been able to obtain since the publication 

 of ' The Birds of New Zealand ' (2nd ed.) in 1888. Mr. C. Field, a Government surveyor, writing 

 to me from Moawhango, Inland Patea, says : "I know of four places where the Piopio was 

 to be found seven years ago. In the Turakina Valley, about five miles south of the Te 

 Ruanui, we used to see them every week ; also in the Mangamahu Valley, and about four 

 miles from the last-mentioned place. At two different places in the Mangawhero Valley 



