Oeder EALLIFOEMES.] 



[Family KALLIDtE. 



& 



FIT LIC A AUSTHALIS. 



(AUSTEALIAN COOT.) 



Fulica australis, Gould, P.Z.S., 1845, p. 2. 



I have to add to the list of New Zealand birds the Australian Coot, a specimen of which was 

 killed, in July, 1889, at Lake Waihora, in the provincial district of Otago, and the body sent, in 

 the flesh, by Mr. K. Kamage to the Dunedin Museum. There is no record of this species having 

 been brought alive from Australia and, even if it had been, it is difficult to see how it could have 

 reached that remote district. It is the only New Zealand-killed specimen at present known ; but 

 the habits of the bird are recluse, and it is not improbable that many more exist in the swamps 

 and sedges of the interior. This particular bird (which is carefully preserved in the Museurri) 

 proved to be a female. I had an opportunity of examining it on my last visit, and made the 

 following descriptive notes : — 



Adult ? . Entire plumage slaty-black, greyer on the under-parts, and especially on the 

 lower abdomen ; primaries and secondaries greyish-brown, the latter greyish-white at the tips. 

 Irides bright red; bill and frontal shield blackish-green, the points of both mandibles horn- 

 coloured; legs and toes black (in the dried specimen). The toes are beautifully palmated or 

 lobed ; there are three expansions on the middle and outer toes, and two on the inner. Approxi- 

 mate length, 13 inches ; wing from flexure, 7 ; tail, 1*75 ; bill, measuring from top of shield to the 

 tip, 1*5, along the edge of lower mandible, l'l; tarsus, 2; middle toe and claw, 3; widest part of 

 lobed expansion, "75. 



Mr. Gould states that in Australia its favourite places of resort are the inland waters of the 

 country, which the bird seldom quits, unless to seek for a more abundant supply of food, 

 consisting of aquatic insects, small-shelled mollusks, &c. Like the European Coot, it constructs 

 a floating nest of dried aquatic plants, upon which it deposits its eggs and rears its young.. 



(?) FULICA NOV^E-ZEALANDIJE. 



(COLENSO'S COOT.) 



Fulica novaB-zealandiae, Colenso, Tasm. Journ. of Nat. Science, 1855. 



As far back as 1845 the Eev. Mr. Colenso, one of the most conscientious and accurate naturalists 

 the Colony ever possessed, made the following entry in his diary : — 



A little below Ngaruawahia (on the Waikato Eiver) we met a man in a canoe with a live and elegant 

 specimen of the ,genus Fulica. I hailed the man and purchased the bird, which he had recently snared, for a 

 little tobacco. It was a most graceful creature, and, as far as I am aware, an entirely new and undescribed 

 species. Its general colour was dark, almost black ; head grey, and without a frontal shield ; fore-neck and 

 breast ferruginous red ; wings barred with white ; bill produced and sharp ; feet and legs glossy olive ; toes 

 beautifully and largely festooned at the edges ; eye light coloured and very animated. It was very fierce and 

 never ceased attempting to bite at everything within its reach. I kept it until we landed, intending to 

 preserve it, but as it was late I let it go. It swam, dived and disappeared. Not a doubt, in my opinion, 

 can exist as to its being naturally allied in habit and affinity to the Fulica ; I have therefore named it Fulica 

 novce zealanclice. In size it was somewhat less than our European species, F. atra. 



In the ' Birds of New Zealand ' (vol. ii., p. 140) I relegated this bird to a footnote ; but it 

 has been introduced into Dr. Sharpe's ' Handlist ' ; and, although the species has not, so far as is 

 known, been met with since, the description is so clear that I think it may fairly be admitted into 

 our recognised list of species. 



