INTRODUCTION. 
XXXVll 
th ° U * sbc< ^ b y Hutton under the generic name of Cabalus, from the Chatham Islands ; then Notornis, 
u b e bievipennate Rail already mentioned ; a small flightless Duck ( Nesonetta aucklandica), strictly 
nef to the Auckland Islands ; and, finally, the well-known Ground-Parrot ( Stringops habroptilus), 
. 10 1 ^ le s ^ einum almost devoid of a keel. The explanation in all these cases is sufficiently 
US ' a c °untry like New Zealand where there have been no indigenous Mammalia, and con- 
^ fluently few birds of prey, species that habitually seek their food on the ground have no inducement 
take wing, and from long disuse, continued perhaps through countless generations, lose the Carinate 
aiactei of the sternum, and with it the faculty of flight, for without the keel on the breast-bone to 
^ 'o attachment to the great pectoral muscles the wings, however ample they may be in their outward 
welopment, are practically useless for purposes of flight. 
^ a king the Carinate division of our Avifauna, another very prominent characteristic is the number 
^ ndemic genera and species. The families, with a few exceptions to be hereafter mentioned, are 
same that occur in other parts of the world ; but when we come to examine the subordinate 
g ups, ^ the specialization is at once apparent. Out of a total of 88 genera, 47 belong to the 
^ uco a , Ilerodiones, and the five web-footed Orders, and these, being in a sense cosmopolitan, may 
Z l 31 6Sen * ; be put out of sight. Of the remaining 41 genera, 21 are strictly peculiar to New 
k ' an even * n the other more widely-spread genera there are many species that are not 
1 ^ ^ elsewheie. Thus, out of a total of 181 species, composing the present list of our Carinate, no 
^ . an '' 0 cUe stl 'ictly endemic. Even among the most diffuse Orders there are genera restricted in 
lange to the New-Zealand rivers or coasts, or to the outlying islands. Thus among the Limicolse 
lave two stiictly peculiar genera, Thinornis and Anarhynchus, and among the Anseres two more, 
namely, Hymenolcemus and Nesonetta. 
Of the former, Thinornis belongs really to the Chatham Islands, for although T, novae zealandice 
^ ^paiatively common there, only straggling flocks are met with, at uncertain intervals, on the 
o 1 j^ ea ^ an< ^ COas ^ ’ and the latter, Nesonetta is confined exclusively to the Auckland Islands, the 
‘ . n ° Wn s l iec 'es, N. aucklandica , never having been met with elsewhere. The other two genera I 
stanc-ed, Anarhynchus and Hymenolcemus, are restricted to New Zealand, never having been 
met with on the outlying islands. 
. doubtedly the most remarkable bird we have among the Waders is the Wry-billed Plover 
S J ron ' j alis), in which, as the name implies, the bill is asymmetrical, being always 
a modification of structure admirably fitted to the bird’s peculiar habits of 
m b . The curvature in the bill is congenital, being equally present in the embryo chick, although 
so fully dev eloped ; and this fact furnishes a beautiful illustration of the law of adaptation and 
gn that pievails throughout the whole animal kingdom. A bird endowed with a straight bill, 
th ^ an U ^ Curve ^ 01 Recurved one, would be less fitted for the peculiar mode of hunting by which 
^ nar ^y nc ^ us obtains its living, as must be at once apparent to any one who has watched this 
la P idl y round the boulders that lie on the surface of the ground and inserting its scoop 
6 e ' ei y step, in order to collect the insects and their larvae that find concealment there. 
e an °tbei feature in the natural history of this species that is deserving of special notice, 
* ‘ ^ be lllll Y adult bird is adorned with a black pectoral band, which, in the male, measures 
„ an | n bs 'Hdest part. Now it is a very curious circumstance that this band is, as a rule, 
conspicuous on the right-hand side, where, owing to the bird’s peculiar habit of feeding, 
