67 
Iiie example from which the above description is taken was shot by Mr. Giblin at Motueka, in the 
Provincial district of Nelson, and now forms part of the public collection in the Nelson Museum. 
Mi. Huddleston informs me that he saw the bird in the flesh, and knows the precise locality in which 
it was shot. I here can be no doubt, therefore, as to the authenticity of the specimen as a New- 
/ealand bird ; but as it appears to be quite unknown to the natives of the country, it may, I think, be 
safely assumed that this was an accidental visitant from Australia, where the species is very plentiful. 
Another example was shot at Invercargill in April 1870, and forwarded to the Colonial Museum. Of 
this Professor Hutton writes ( l . c.) : — “Like the bird shot in Nelson province, this one also has the 
general plumage of the young of G. melanops ; but the feathers of the chin and forehead are similar 
to those on the throat and top of the head, and not lighter as in G. melanops ; there is also no indi- 
cation of any black feathers coming on the chin or upper part of the head. It differs from the 
Australian bird in having a more slender bill, a rather longer tail, the feathers of which are acutely 
pointed at the tip instead of being rounded, and in having much more white on the wings. These 
differences are, I think, quite sufficient to warrant its being kept as a distinct species ” *. He adds : 
“Mr. Man tell has informed me that he saw this bird many years ago at Port Chalmers in Ota°- 0 ; 
Mr. W. Travers says that he has seen it at Nelson, and Captain Fraser says that he saw it near 
Hawea Lake in Otago.” 
This species is liable to so much variation, both in plumage and size, that I am unable at present 
to consider the form which has thus occurred at such rare intervals in New Zealand as distinct from 
the Australian one. Of the latter Mr. Gould says that the “ infinite changes of plumage which these- 
birds undergo from youth to maturity render their investigation very perplexing.” 
Dr. linsch expresses his belief that the bird which has occurred in New Zealand is G. parvirostris, 
Gould; but Mr. Sharpe, in his account of G. melanops (Cat. of Birds Brit. Mus. iv. p. 31) says:— 
“ I his species varies much in size, but it is impossible to believe in the existence of more than one 
species; and G. parvirostris is little more than a race of the present bird.” 
I have gone carefully over the whole series of skins in the British Museum, and am confirmed in 
my original conclusion that our bird is the young or immature state of G. melanops. I attach no 
value to the two characters on which Professor Hutton appears mainly to rely, namely, the white 
margins to the greater wing-coverts and the more acutely pointed tail-feathers. In a large series, of 
all ages, I find the extent of white on the wings very variable, and in the younger birds the t.ail- 
feathei s aie undoubtedly narrower at the points than in fully adult specimens. In the Nelson bird, 
of which a full description is given above, it will be seen that the former of Professor Hutton’s 
distinguishing characters is absent. I should be inclined to give more weight to the colour of the 
primaries, as described by him, because in every specimen of G. melanops examined by me the first 
five primaries aie uniform brownish black, or with only a very narrow greyish-white margin on the 
outer web, theie being no sign of any white tips. This difference, however, appears to me too trivial 
to separate the species, the more so as it is wanting in the Nelson example. The “white circular 
* G ratio at, vs CONCURS, Hutton ( l . c.) ' * The whole of the upper surface uniform pale grey, the feathers of the forehead 
with the shafts darker; feathers of the throat and breast pale grey, slightly tipped with white ; those of the upper abdomen and 
thighs pale grey, with white circular hands ; lower abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts pure white; a broad band of black 
passes from the nostrils and gape through and below the eye to the region of the ears ; primaries brownish black, the first slightly 
tipped with white, the second, third, fourth, and fifth margined outwardly and slightly tipped with white, the remainder margined 
all round with a white band, which is broader on the tip and inner web ; secondaries greyish black, with more or less grey on 
the outer webs near the base, and with a rather broad white margin on the outer wob and tip ;. greater wing-coverts margined 
outwardly with white ; tail-feathers acutely pointed at the tip, the two middle ones brownish grey, laterals brownish black 
tipped with white, the white decreasing inwards ; shafts of the tail-feathers greyish black above and pure white below ; bill (dry) 
brownish black, paler at the base ; legs and feet (d'ry) black. Wing 8- inches ; tail 7 ; tarsus 1-1 ;. hind toe - 8 ; middle toe 1-1 ; 
bill, culmen, -85, breadth at nostrils -4,. height at nostrils •35.” 
K 2 
