Order RALLIFORMES.] 



[Family RALLIDiE 



OCYDROMUS A TJ STB, A LIS. 



(SOUTH-ISLAND WOOD-HEN.) 



Ocydromus australis, Sparrm ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, yoL ii., p. 116. 



After debouching from the mountains, the coach-road through the Buller Gorge passes over a 

 succession of hilly downs before it reaches the Canterbury Plains. Not a bird is to be seen of any 

 kind, except that occasionally a Wood-hen trips across the road and disappears in the rank 

 tussock-grass, or a Harrier (Circus goiddi) is to be seen circling high in the air surveying the 

 ground below. 



In spite of its feebleness of wing, this species of Wood-hen continues to hold its own in many 

 districts of the South Island. It is very prolific, and breeds freely in confinement. Mr. W. W 

 Smith, of Ashburton, sent me a fine series of eggs which had been laid by birds in captivity. In 

 the letter accompanying them he says: "I have one pair of these birds which have reared two 

 broods and have a third three weeks old. I took the young away much earlier than the parents 

 would have left them, which made them lay much sooner. I have another bird which has 

 laid sixteen eggs. My efforts to procure a hybrid between the Game-cock and Weka have 

 not so far been successful, but I shall persevere with my experiments, and may ultimately 

 succeed." (See Dr. Murie's report on page 50.) 



I have received two albino specimens of this species from the South Island. One is a male 

 bird from Otago, in which the whole of the plumage is pure white, with the exception of a slight 

 creamy tinge on the shoulders and upper-surface of wings ; bill and feet whitish-horn colour. The 

 other is a female bird from Canterbury. This, too, is all white, except that vestiges of the normal 

 plumage appear on the wings and flanks, and an irregular sprinkling of brown on other parts of 

 the body ; there is also a shade of ash-grey on the abdomen. 



There is now living in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, in Eegent's Park, a pure albino 

 of this species, brought to England by H.E.H. the Prince of Wales on his return from his historic 

 tour round the British Empire. The bird is in perfect condition, and appears to be entirely 

 satisfied with its new environment. Although clothed in the garb of immaculate innocence, this 

 Wood-hen is as aggressive and pugnacious as its fellows, and recently distinguished itself by 

 assailing and killing outright a Straw-necked Ibis (Carpliibis sjpinicollis) confined in the same 

 wire enclosure. 



No ornithologist in this country has devoted more attention to the New Zealand group of 

 Wood-hens than Professor Newton. In his ' Dictionary of Birds ' (1032), under that head, occurs 

 the following : " The chief interest attaching to the Ocydromus is their inability to use in flight 

 the wings with which they are furnished, and hence an extreme probability of the form becoming 

 wholly extinct in a short time. It is to be hoped that the naturalists of New Zealand will not 

 allow this to happen, if any effectual means can be taken to perpetuate it ; but, should that fate be 

 inevitable, it at least behoves the present generation to see that every possible piece of information 

 concerning the birds be recorded, and every possible preparation illustrating their structure be 

 made, while yet there is time ; for, though much has been written on the subject, it is obvious 

 from one of the latest papers (Trans. New Zealand Institute, x., p. 213) that there is still more to 

 be learned, some of which may throw further light on the affinities of the extinct genus Aptomis" 



And, in a letter to myself, dated 30th April, 1902, he says : " I have sometimes been inclined 



