INTEODU CTION. 
xvn 
the b iand study of Creation, it follows that the method of arrangement which best subserves this 
1 actical end is the right one to adopt. But we must be content to see our carefully elaborated 
} stems swept away one after another, till, perhaps, in the distant future some gifted mind shall arise, 
10 ’ Wl ^ the constructive energy of a second Cuvier, may be able to fashion, from the more 
omplete materials at his command, a system perfect in all its parts and destined to endure till time 
shall be no more. 
In portraying the manners and habits of the various species I have been careful to omit nothing 
a seemed calculated to elucidate their natural history. It has been said that a zoologist cannot 
e too exact in recording dates and other apparently trivial circumstances in the course of his 
senations, and that it is better to err on the side of minuteness than of vagueness, because 
an obseiver is scarcely competent to determine how far an attendant circumstance, trivial in 
i se , may afterwards be found to enhance the value of a recorded fact in science when viewed 
i elation to other facts or observations. It must be borne in mind, however, that we are as yet 
only impeifectly acquainted with many of the native species, and that probably, in the history 
all that are here treated of, new facts or new features of character will hereafter come to 
1 • It is extremely difficult to cultivate an intimate acquaintance with birds that are naturally 
shy and tecluse, and especially so in a thinly peopled country, where they rarely cross the path 
man and must be assiduously sought for in bush, swamp, and jungle. While relying generally 
own °Pportunities for observation, I have not failed to avail myself of the kind assistance 
161 S ’ an d h 1 Ihe body of the work numerous acknowledgments will be found of informa- 
on furnished by correspondents in various parts of the country, who, amid the multifarious duties 
engagements of a colonial life, have found time to take notice of the natural objects around 
them. J 
T) r* 
016 P assin g on to a consideration of the existing Avifauna it may be useful to take a rapid 
^ ^ t ^ e Families and Genera known to us by their fossil remains as having formerly inhabited 
d ^jhuid, oi loamed over the continent of which these islands are the only remnants at the present 
6Se 01mt Fm re lics of a bygone time have been interpreted, restored, and classified with 
AT ' _ US felicit Y ky Professor Sir Bichard Owen in his 1 Memoirs of the Extinct Wingless Birds of 
-IN GW ZGctIcliicl j ^ r pi • i 
Parts f r inese memoirs had appeared, from time to time, since the year 1838, in successive 
j Transactions of the Zoological Society of London,’ and following the example of Baron 
’ 10 ^ 1US le P r mted his numerous detached papers under the title of ‘ Kecherches sur les 
Memo' F° ss iles de Quadrupedes,’ the venerable Professor has collected his many exhaustive 
repl t hh ^ em with additional matter and general remarks in two splendid volumes, 
say thit “h‘ 1 ^ UStla ^ 0ns ' the prospectus announcing this work he did me the great honour to 
o £ Purpose, long entertained, was strengthened by the appearance and favourable reception 
Volum 6 ^ ent an< ^ com prehensive work on the existing Birds of New Zealand, to which the present 
an j ^ be deemed complementary.” The volumes, thus modestly announced, commence with 
Avifar t c ^ oi y Notice of the circumstances which led to the discovery and restoration of the extinct 
natural ^ ea ^ an< ^’ the descriptions which follow are accompanied by illustrations of the 
genera 6 F° ss ils, together with reduced views of the restored skeletons on which the several 
existing ^ s P ec ^ es have been founded ; the whole is preceded by an illustrated Anatomy of the 
bless bird (Apteryx australis), which, as the Professor states, is the nearest ally of the 
* Quarto, 1878, 2 vols. 
C 
