Okdee PASSERES.] 
[Ea it. STURNID^E. 
HETEEALOCHA ACETIEOSTEIS. 
(HUIA.) 
Neomorplia acutirostris, Gould, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 144 ( ? ). 
Neomorplia crassirostris, Gould, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 145 ( d ). 
Neomorplia gouldi. Gray, List of Gen. of B. p. 15 (1841). 
Heteralocha gouldi, Cab. Mus. Hein. Th. i. p. 218 (1850). 
Native name. — Iiuia. 
6 undique sericeo-niger, sub certa luce obscure viridi nitens : cauda conspicue albo terminata : pileo carunculis 
xnagms rotundatis laete aurantiacis utrinque ad basin mandibulae positis ornato : rostro valido, eburnco, 
versus basin cinereo : pedibus cinereis, unguibus corneis. 
? mari similis, sed rostro lougo valde decurvato semper distingueuda. 
Adult. The whole of the plumage is black, with a green metallic gloss ; the tail with a broad terminal band of 
white. Bill ivory-white, darkening to blackish grey at the base. Wattles large, rounded, and of a rich 
orange-colour in the living bird. Tarsi and toes bluish grey; claws light horn-colour. 
Male. Length 18'75 inches; extent of wings 22' 5 ; wing, from flexure, 8; tail 7'5 ; bill, along the ridge 2'75, 
along the edge of lower mandible 2'7 5 ; tarsus 3; middle toe and claw 2'5 ; hind toe and claw 2. 
Female. Length 19'5 inches; extent of wings 21; wing, from flexure, 7'5 ; tail 7'25 ; hill, along the ridge 4, 
along the edge of lower mandible 4T2 ; tarsus 3; middle toe and claw 2'25 ; hind toe and claw l - 75. 
I oung female. Differs from adult bird in having the entire plumage of a duller black, or slightly suffused with 
a brownish tinge, and with very little gloss on the surface. Under tail-coverts tipped with white, and the 
teimmal white bar on the tail washed with rufous-yellow, especially in the basal portion. Wattles small 
and pale-coloured. Bill only slightly curved. 
In another specimen m my possession, apparently a year older, the tail-coverts are without the margin, 
the white on the tad-feathers is purer, and the bill is perceptibly longer, with a darkened tip. In another, 
the tips of both mandibles are perfectly black for about half an inch in extent; the tail-feathers are only 
slightly stained with rufous, but instead of having an even white border the shafts are black to their tips, 
and. tlic terminal bar lias an emargmate ed°*e. 
Young male. On comparing a specimen in my collection with the above, tlie same general remarks apply, 
except that the under tail-coverts are not tipped with white at all, while the soft feathers on the lower part 
of the abdomen are largely tipped with pale rufous and white. The pale rufous wash on the tail-bar is 
likewise more conspicuous. 
Varieties. The Maoris speak of a “red-tailed Huia,” but I have no doubt that this is merely the condition of 
tail noticed above. A single tail-feather in my possession has the terminal hand stained with rust-colour, 
and this would be described by a Maori as “ red.” They also say that the birds from the Rualiine range 
have a somewhat broader band on the tail than those from Tararua, the skins from the former locality 
being in much greater demand on that account. A specimen which came into my hands had a single 
white feather in the tail — not a feather of the full quality but aborted in its character, being short, narrow, 
and shaped like one of the outer primaries, although filling the place of an ordinary tail-feather. In another 
