Notes upon some Rare New Zealand Birds. 67 
Most of the collection now submitted was obtained by Mr James Dall, a 
botanist and collector of natural history, who resided at Collingwood, New 
Zealand, and was well known to collectors in this country, the Kuropean 
Continent, and the United States. He was a careful and accurate observer, 
and was much esteemed by those who knew him. 
The first time I heard of Mr Dall was about thirty years ago, at a meeting 
of the Botanical Society, when a large number of New Zealand plants were 
exhibited that had been collected by him. 
Some years afterwards, I visited New Zealand, and when at Lake Wakatipu 
I climbed up one of the mountains. It came on a dreadful storm of wind 
and rain, and, as the evening was well advanced, I was thinking of returning 
home. Just at that moment I saw an elderly man approaching heavily laden 
with botanical specimens. He had a sack upon his back, and a large satchel 
slung from his shoulders, besides one or more other packages attached to his 
person. When he came up to me, i made the remark that he was rather 
overburdened, which he admitted was true. I asked him where he had come 
from, and he told me he had been botanising at the other side of the mountain, 
where he had gone for some special plants that were wanted. I was greatly 
interested as I did not expect to come across a botanist in such an out-of-the- 
way place. I asked him where he was going, and discovered that he was 
living not far from where I had my abode, which was some miles off. 
I told him that I would return with him and relieve him of part of his 
load, for which he was very thankful. As we trudged along down the 
mountain side, I plied him with many questions regarding the flora and fauna 
of New Zealand. I soon discovered I had come across no ordinary student 
of natural history, so before we separated I asked his name, and found it 
was no other than James Dall I was speaking to. This was the beginning of 
my acquaintance with this interesting and remarkable man, who, without 
special opportunities, had made almost a world-wide name for himself as a 
collector. 
He was known everywhere in New Zealand, and especially in the South 
Island, and was seldom at home. Sometimes he wrote me from Australia 
where he was engaged by one or other of the governments to make collections, 
and it was difficult to get replies to letters, until long periods had elapsed. 
However, after about ten years of correspondence he collected for me a few 
rare specimens, some of which are before you. I wrote asking many questions, 
some of which were answered, and I would have liked to have had much 
more information. I have made extracts from his letters about Apteryx 
haasti and Apteryx oweni, which contain what may be worth recording. You 
will observe what Sir W. Buller’s description is of Apteryx mantelli, and that 
