INTRODUCTION. 
lvii 
The Cormorants are evidently adapted by nature to a cold or temperate climate, for as we 
advance towards the Iropics they disappear, and it is said that not a single species is to be found in 
the whole of Polynesia. 
In New Caledonia and the New Hebrides, which form a sort of transition ground into Australia 
proper and the Papuan group, we have the same genera, and in addition thereto, inhabiting New 
Caledonia, a flightless Rail, allied to the New-Zealand Woodhen. 
The Chatham Islands to the east of New Zealand, the Auckland Islands, and the other scattered 
islets to the south and south-east are so obviously related to New Zealand geographically, besides 
coming within the political limits of the Colony, that I have included their birds in the present work. 
It is interesting to notice, howevei, that these islands nearly all contain one or more peculiar species, 
showing that the isolation has been of sufficiently long duration to allow of this development. Thus 
in the Chatham Islands and the adjacent islets there are seven peculiar species, namely, Anthornis 
melanocephala, Gerygone albofrontata, Miro traversi, Sphenoeacus rufescens, Ballus dieffenbachii, 
Cabalus modesties, and Phalacr ocor ax feather stoni. 
In the Auckland Islands, lying about oOO miles to the south of New Zealand, the three species 
mentioned by Mr. Wallace as peculiar ( Anthus aucJclandicus, Platycercus aucJclandicus, and P. mal- 
herbii ) have been proved to have no existence as valid species ; but, as already mentioned, this small 
area contains two species of Duck ( Nesonetta aucJclandica and Mergus australis) hitherto not met with 
elsewhere; also a Snipe ( Gallinago aucJclandica) and a species of Rail (Ballus brachypus), both of 
which are supposed to be peculiar to these small islands. 
From Macquarie Island, still further south, we have the handsome Phalacrocorax nycthemerus 
and possibly a new species of Rail ; from Campbell Island, so far as our present knowledge extends, 
another fine Cormorant ( P ■ magellanicus ) and a peculiar Penguin ; from the Snares the unique 
Eudyptes atrata, described by Prof. Hutton ; and from Antipodes Island the interesting Ground- 
Parrakeet (Platycercus unicolor) lately discovered by Captain Fairchild. A small Hawk received by me 
from Macquarie Island is undoubtedly the same as our Ilarpa ferox, and the Rail which Prof. Hutton 
has distinguished as Ballus macquariensis seems to me to be merely a local race of P. philippensis, if 
at all separable from that species. There can be no doubt, therefore, of the propriety of including 
even this remote island in the New-Zealand region. 
The case is different, however, with the islands to the north of New Zealand. The instances 
mentioned by me at p. 24 of the present volume make it abundantly clear that at some period there was 
a land -connection with Lord Howes Island, Norfolk Island, and the Nepean group, and possibly with 
the Kermadec Islands 511 to the eastward ; but, owing to the introduction from time to time of a colonist 
population, so to speak, from the nearer continent, the avifauna of these islands is decidedly more 
Australian than New Zealand. With the exception of Nestor productus and Notornis alba, all the 
species of land-birds inhabiting Norfolk Island and the Nepean group belong to Australian genera ; 
and of the sixteen recorded species, all but three occur also in various parts of Australia. 
The same remarks apply to Lord Howe’s Island lying midway between Norfolk Island and 
Australia. With the exception of Ocydromus sylvestris, all the birds belong to well-known Australian 
* Mr. J. F. Cheeseman, who accompanied the Annexation expedition to the Kermadec Islands last year, has lately communi- 
cated to the Linnean Society (through Sir J oseph Hooker) a report on the flora of these islands. He mentions incidentally 
that the land-birds found there, which were few in number, appeared to belong to New-Zealand species, but he does not state 
what these birds were. 
h 
