53 



undoubtedly one of the best photographers in New Zealand. I am indebted to the same source 

 for all the other photographs reproduced in this volume, except where some other artist is specially 

 mentioned in the text. 



As fully explained in my account of this bird (vol. ii., pp. 106, 107), when I came to examine 

 the type of Ocydromus earli (described as far back as 1862) in the British Museum, I found that 

 it was not the North Island species, as every writer on the subject had treated it, but a closely- 

 allied form, with pale-red legs, from the South Island. Of the latter bird Mr. Eeischek obtained 

 fiYQ specimens in 1884, and two of these I purchased and took to England with me. This led to 

 my hunting up the type of 0. earli, with the result I have stated. By this discovery the common 

 North Island bird was left without a distinctive name. Finding, when I looked over the old type- 

 collection of birds in the British Museum, that Sir George Grey had been one of the earliest and 

 most liberal contributors of specimens from New Zealand, I thought I could not do better than 

 dedicate this species to him. 



Notwithstanding this, with a conservative tenacity that is quite remarkable, the old name is 

 retained in the British Museum Catalogue, and reappears in Dr. Sharpe's recently-published 

 'Handlist of Birds.' 



Professor Newton wrote me, in May, 1897 : — " About Ocydromus and the species of that 

 genus, I have done nothing since I wrote the article ' Weka ' in my ' Dictionary,' when I used up 

 all the materials available, and I think the whole matter, if cleared up at all, must be cleared up 

 by New Zealand ornithologists. All I have been able to do has been to direct attention to some 

 points that seemed to have been overlooked or misunderstood." 



Having sent Professor Newton a specimen of the Wood-hen from the west coast of the South 

 Island, which I had identified as the true Ocydromus earli, he wrote me as follows : "I have been 

 much struck with the Weka, named on the ticket 0. earli. Last summer I made a pretty 

 elaborate examination of the fairly good series of specimens of the genus we have now here (thanks 

 to } r ourself, Hector, and Von Hugel), and I feel that we (or, at least, I) have not got to the bottom 

 of the business yet, though I believe that what I have said in the ' Dictionary of Birds ' (p. 1,032) 

 is pretty correct so far as it goes. I find it hard to bring myself to think that there are three 

 distinct species in the South Island ; but sooner or later this dark point will be made clear, and it 

 would be well that it should be so. What a fine opportunity there is for someone to write a mono- 

 graph of Ballidce ! In regard to Ocydromus only, my investigations last summer had produced on 

 me the impression that I had been able to see daylight, but this last specimen of yours has almost 

 shattered that hope." 



The late Captain Fairchild brought me a live example of this species from Macquarie Island, 

 a female with lake-red legs and bright chestnut-red eyes ; and Mr. Cheeseman showed me a pair 

 that had been brought .by the ' Hinemoa ' from Solander Island. 



Captain Fairchild assured me that the same species of Wood-hen inhabits Solander Island, in 

 Foveaux Strait, as that found by him on Macquarie Island, and identified by me as Ocydromus 

 earli. He saw a good many during his brief visit to the island, and caught two, the skins of 

 which were sent to the Auckland Museum, and were probably those shown to me, as stated 

 above. 



I have received a fine series of specimens from the valley of the Heaphy, where this Wood-hen 

 appears to be the common species. As stated in my account of the species (' Birds of New 

 Zealand,' vol. i., p. 115), Eeischek met with it on Mount Alexander, and afterwards on Cooper's 

 Island, as well as on the mainland opposite, so, that the range of the bird appears to extend all the 

 way down the coast. 



A specimen from the West Coast (Martin's Bay) has the quills entirely chestnut-brown, 

 owing to the absolute fusion of the barred markings. 



