Okdek PASSEEES.] 
[Eam. XENICIDiE. 
XENICUS GILVIVENTEIS. 
(ROCK-WREN.) 
Xenicus gilviventris, Yon Pelz. Yerh. k.-k. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, 1867, p. 316. 
Xenicus haasti, Buller, Ibis, 1869, p. 37. 
Acanthisitta gilviventris , Gray, Iland-1. of B. i. p. 183 (1869). 
Acanthisitta haastii, id. tom. cit. p. 183 (1869). 
d statura X. longipedis, sed hallucis ungue maximo distinguendus : supra pallide viridis, pileo et dorso superiore 
brunnescentioribus concoloribus : supercilio albo, haud flavo tincto : subtus dilute cbocolatino-brunneus, 
crisso cum cruribus viridescentibus, hypochondriis leete flavis : subalaribus pallide flavis. 
? feminse X. longipedis dissimilis et bujus mari magis assimilata : supra ochrascenti-brunnea, uropygio vix viri- 
descente : tectricibus alarum conspicue nigris : remigibus brunneis, extus dorsi colore lavatis : subtus pallide 
isabellina, hypochondriis viridescentibus. 
Adult male. Upper parts dull olive-brown, with a greyish gloss, darker on the forehead and crown, and tinged 
on the back, wing-coverts, and rump with yellowish green ; sides of the head dark brown, with a narrow 
superciliary streak of fulvous white, widening above the ears ; underparts delicate purplish brown, with a 
silky appearance, and fading into fulvous white at the base of the lower mandible ; the sides of the body 
lemon-yellow ; wing-feathers brown, the primaries margined on their outer webs with dull olive, the secon- 
daries with an apical spot of fulvous on their outer webs ; tertials and the lesser wing-coverts black, forming 
a conspicuous triangular spot ; inner lining of wings pale yellow ; tail-feathers dull olive. Irides and bill 
blackish brown ; tarsi and toes pale brown ; claws darker. Total length 3-75 inches; wing, from flexure, 
2T ; tail -75 (nearly two thirds of it being concealed by the coverts) ; bill, along the ridge -4, along the edge 
of lower mandible -6 ; tarsus 1 ; middle toe and claw -9 ; hind toe and claw -9. 
Adult female. Differs from the male in having the plumage of the upper parts dull yellowish brown, shaded with 
umber on the crown, and tinged with yellowish olive on the wings and rump ; the superciliary streak less 
distinct ; and the underparts pale fulvous, stained on the sides of the body with lemon-yellow. 
Obs. It will be necessary to obtain a larger series of specimens than is at present available, and to make a closer 
investigation of the subject, before the differences supposed to be characteristic of the sexes (both of this and 
the preceding species) can be considered finally determined. It is probable that the colours undergo some 
change in the progress of the bird towards maturity ; and there is likewise reason to suspect that a seasonal 
change takes place in the plumage of the male. 
My first specimens of this bird were received from Dr. (now Sir Julius von) Haast, F.B.S., who 
discovered it in the Southern Alps, during a topographical survey of the Canterbury Province. In a 
notice which I communicated to ‘ The Ibis ’ (/. c.), I described the species as new, and named it 
Xenicus haasti, in compliment to the discoverer. This name, however, must, in obedience to the 
inflexible law of priority, give place to Xenicus gilviventris, a description of the species under that 
title having previously been published by Von Pelzeln, although it had not then reached the colony. 
Nevertheless I am glad to be able to quote ITaast’s account of the bird’s habits as communicated to 
me at the time : — “ It lives exclusively amongst the large taluses of debris high on the mountain- 
sides. Instead of flying away when frightened or when stones are thrown at it, or even when shot 
