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barred, the loose feathers overlapping them have series of yellowish-bulF spots on both vanes, and the 
feathers covering the flanks are barred or fasciated in the same manner. Besides this, the feathers have 
paler margins, the throat and cheeks arc of a purer grey, and the breast is dark chestnut-grey. In the type 
of 0. fuscus the breast is like the rest of the plumage ; but I have had specimens in which this grey feature 
was quite conspicuous. I have come to the conclusion, therefore, that these differences merely denote transi- 
tional states of plumage. 
There is a similar specimen in the Canterbury Museum from the West Coast (South Island), and there is 
another from Preservation Inlet (marked , Jan. 1873), in which the plumage is intermediate between the 
type of 0. finschi and ordinary examples of 0. fuscus, the general coloration being black with brown edges 
to the feathers. Judging by analogy I feel no hesitation in pronouncing this the immature condition of 
the Black Woodhen. Professor Hutton himself has already conjectured that his “ O. finschi is only the 
young of 0. fuscus ’’ i and Dr. Finsch, to whom he had dedicated the supposed new species, has expressed 
a strong suspicion that one was a mere variety of the other. I think we may now take it that the matter 
admits of no further doubt. 
This species of Woodhen, which is quite distinct from all the others, although for a long time 
confounded with them, inhabits the sea-shore and feeds among the kelp and seaweed. Hitherto it 
has only been found on the south-west coast of the South Island, where it is said to be extremely 
abundant. There can be no doubt that this is the bird referred to by Captain Cook in the following 
passage : — “ Although they are numerous enough here [Dusky Bay], they are so scarce in other parts 
that I never saw but one They inhabit the skirts of the woods, and feed on the sea-beach, 
and were so tame or foolish as to stand and stare at us till we knocked them down with a stick 
They are a sort of Rail, about the size and a good deal like a common dunghill hen. Most of them 
are of a dirty black or dark brown colour . A description and figure of this species, under the 
name of Gallirallus fuscus, [1. c.) in 1847 ; but, owing to a doubt as to its native habitat, 
it was not admitted into the accepted list of New-Zealand birds. More recently, however, it was 
rediscovered by Dr. (now Sir James) Hector, and described by myself {1. c.) under the name of 
Ocydromus nigricans. Dr. Finsch having, at my request, compared one of my specimens with the 
type of Gcdlirallus fuscus (Du Bus), there could no longer be any doubt about their identity. 
Sir J. Hector informs me that he never met with this kind of Woodhen at any distance from the 
sea-coast, and that it appears to subsist entirely on shell-fish and other marine productions. 
Like its congeners, it may be easily snared by dangling a small bird or a mouse at the end of 
a stick, about a yard long, and then, by means of another stick somewhat longer, slipping a noose 
of green fiax over the bird’s head as it attempts to seize the bait, the operator partially concealing 
himself by lying in the fem or grass. 
The following record, in Hammett’s Journal of the West-Coast exploration in 1863, refers 
apparently to the same bird : — “ Thursday, August 20 [after being on the verge of starvation for 
forty days]. Still raining in torrents ! My blankets and my clothes are saturated. All that 1 can 
do is to stand in the pitiless rain, which can make me no wetter, and watch the surf as it rolls towards 
my feet. It is impossible to get a fire. I have caught two Woodhens; for as God sent the Ravens 
to feed Elijah, so these birds came to me, and my faithful dog caught them. I am thus provided 
with food for a day or two ; but unless I can manage a fire to cook them, I must even eat them raw. I 
live in hope that the weather will clear, as the wind has changed. My faithful dog, how serviceable 
in many ways have you been to me ! ” Thus poor Hammett records his gratitude for the gift of 
Woodhens — the only inhabitants, besides rats, of this inhospitable coast. The occasional capture of 
one of these birds sufficed to keep him from absolute starvation, and through much suffering and 
privation Hammett survived to tell the melancholy fate of the rest of his party. 
* Cook’s Second Voyage, edit. 4to, i. p. 97. 
VOL. II. 
Q 
