Order KALLIFORMES.] 



[Family EALLID^l. 



OCTDEOMUS HECTORI 



(BUFF WOOD-HEN.) 



Ocydromus brachypterus, Lafr. ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, ii., p. 119. 



As Dr. Sharpe has pointed out, this species was wrongly identified in my work, the name 

 brachypterus (Lafresnaye) belonging properly to the Black Wood-hen (see p. 61). It therefore 

 becomes 0. hectori (Hutton.) 



In treating of this species (vol. ii., p. 120) I said : "It is with some hesitation that I accord 

 specific rank to this bird, for, although my collection contains some beautifully marked specimens, 

 they intergrade to such an extent that it is extremely difficult to draw any distinct line between 

 this species and 0. australis.'" I am still of that opinion; but as a good many more specimens 

 have been obtained, from time to time, of this extreme type, I think it is better to keep it 

 distinct. 



Captain Hutton, in discriminating this species, wrote* : " In size and style of colouring this 

 bird resembles 0. troglodytes [treated in this work as a form of 0. australis] , but its bill is more 

 robust, and its general hue is isabella-brown, or fawn-coloured ; the primary feathers of the wing 

 are rounded at the tip, and the brown bands on the webs are very narrow, sometimes becoming 

 obsolete." 



Dr. Finsch says of it : " This I consider to be a good species, after having compared a typical 

 specimen kindly lent me through the Colonial Museum at Wellington, "t 



Mr. Brough writes me that in the Nelson district this pale-coloured form inhabits the Sub- 

 alpine country " amongst small scrub and snow-grass." 



The young of the buff Wood-hen differs from that of 0. australis in its much lighter colouring 

 and more distinctly barred character. 



Professor Newton says in a letter to me (29th January, 1902) : — " The Ocyclromi are very 

 puzzling birds, and I doubt whether we have got to understand them yet — certainly I do not, 

 though on one of your visits you helped me considerably in that direction. All you have sent us 

 are marked Ocydromus greyi, except one marked 0. earli (see p. 53). Of Ocydromus hectori 

 (Hutton) and 0. fiuschi (Hutton) I can say nothing, as I have never seen typical examples. We 

 have in our collection about a dozen of what I take to be Ocydromus australis and three of 0. 

 fuscus (now known to be 0. brachypterus), which appears to be a very distinct form. I find it 

 hard to bring my mind to the belief that there are three species in the South Island. Don't think 

 for a moment that I wish to set up my opinions on New Zealand birds against yours. That 

 would indeed be folly." Notwithstanding his modest way of putting the case, I may truthfully 

 say that there is no living ornithologist to whose judgment I attach more weight than Professor 

 Newton. This may indeed be inferred from the frequency of my quotation of his opinions in 

 the course of this work. But that there are at least three species of Ocydromus in the South 

 Island, does not admit of a shadow of doubt. Whether I am right in recognising, even 

 provisionally, a fourth species, as I am doing now, is of course a matter of opinion. But it must 

 be remembered that Dr. Finsch and Captain Hutton (both of them very careful ornithologists) 

 recognise a fifth — 0. finschi. 



* Trans. N. Z. Inst., vol. vi., p. 110. 



t Trans. N. Z. Inst., vol. vii., p. 231. 



