2 
whiter ; the caruncles very small and colourless ; bill horn-coloured ; feet yellowish brown ; the tail-feathers 
somewhat abraded at the tips. 
Another abnormal specimen in the same collection (received from the Wairarapa district) has the entire 
plumage of a washed-out ash-grey colour, paler and tinged with brown on the quills and tail-feathers. There 
is an approach to the normal bluish-grey colour on the throat and towards the edges of the frontal patch, 
which is dull brown instead of velvety black ; bill and feet brown ; caruncles faded to the same colour. 
Obs. As will be seen from the above synopsis, I am unable to admit the so-called Glaucopis olivascens to the rank 
of a distinct species. It was founded on a specimen obtained at Auckland by M. Zelebor, and the diagnostic 
characters by which it is distinguished from G. cinerea are the brownish-olive colour of the back, wings, and 
tail, the greyish olive of the underparts, its greater size, and the “ dusky colour of the mouth-caruncles. 5 ’ 
As I have already shown, this description applies to the young of G. wilsoni. The dusky colour of the wattles 
is of no value as a specific character, because, as already mentioned, these appendages entirely change colour 
in dried specimens, leaving no trace of the original blue. Even in the living bird the colour of the wattles 
varies considerably in its tone, according to age and other physical conditions ; and Dr. Hector has observed 
that when in confinement its wattles undergo remarkable variations, the exterior margin sometimes assuming a 
decided yellowish tinge, and again changing back into blue. Dr. Hector writes to me that of three specimens 
caught together, of which the sex was ascertained, two with olive-brown backs and very small wattles proved 
to be males, while the third, which had large wattles, of a deep blue colour, and only a slight tinge of brown 
on the upper parts, was unmistakably a female ; and he expresses his belief that Glaucopis olivascens is the 
male of G. wilsoni. Accepting the result of Dr. Hector’s dissection as conclusive evidence of the sex in each 
case, I should be inclined to pronounce his two brown-backed males birds of the first year, and the female 
an adult in full breeding-plumage. I may add that the bird from which my description of the adult male 
is taken was shot in company with two others (an adult female and a young male), all of which were care- 
fully sexed by myself. 
This singular representative of the Crow family is sparingly dispersed over the North Island, being 
very local in its distribution. It is met with more frequently in the wooded hills than in the low 
timbered bottoms, but its range is too eccentric to be defined with any precision. During many 
years’ residence at Kaipara, north of Auckland, I never obtained more than five specimens, all of 
which were shot in the low wooded spurs of the Tangihua ranges. In particular localities, however, 
even further north, it is comparatively plentiful : for example, between the headwaters of the Wairoa 
and Whangarei rivers there are several strips of forest in which I never failed to meet with the 
Kokako ; and in the Kaitara ranges in the Whangarei district it was, till within the last few years, 
rather abundant. I have heard of its occurrence in various parts of the Waikato district *, and in 
certain localities in the Hawke’s Bay and Wellington provincial districts it is far from being an 
uncommon species. During the autumn months it is comparatively plentiful in the Mangorewa 
forest between Tauranga and Botorua. The traveller, at this season, frequently meets with it hopping 
about along the road or among the bushy branches of Solanum on either side. 
The Kokako is adorned with fleshy wattles of a brilliant blue colour, which spring from the angles 
of the mouth, and when the bird is in motion they are compressed under the chin. The first 
specimen obtained from the Tangihua ranges was a fine bird in full plumage ; but the Maori who 
brought it had torn off the beautiful wattles and pasted them, by way of ornament, on his dusky 
cheeks. 
The notes of the male are loud and varied ; but the most noticeable one is a long-drawn organ- 
note of surpassing depth and richness. I have not been able to discover whether the female is 
* The Maoris state that it is common at Taupo and at Maungatautari, one of those whom I questioned on the subject 
observing, “ Where the range of the Huia ceases, that of the Kokako begins.” Keischek met with several on the Great Barrier, 
but never saw it on the Little Barrier, nor on the Hen and Chickens. Lying off Cape Brett, the southernmost head of the 
Bay of Islands, there is a wooded islet called by the Maoris “ Motukokako,” in allusion to its having been at one time inhabited 
by this bird. 
