137 
Young. Differs from the adult in having the plumage of the back darker^ and the "wing-coverts of a rich tawny 
huffj shading into chestnut on the secondary coverts and towards the flexure. 
Obs. The Otago Museum contains two specimens — one from Jackson^s Bay^ the other from Lake Wakatipu. 
They are adult birds, but not “ sexed,” and both are in the same plumage, all the wing-coverts having a 
broad wedge-shaped mark of brownish black down the centre. One has the neck-plumes a little brighter 
than the other, hut they are alike in size and in every other respect. 
Remarks, Mr. Gould, in his account of this species in Australia, states that “ the sexes differ considerably from 
each other, the female being mottled and of a smaller size than the male ; ” and he gives the following 
description of the former ; — “ Head and back chestnut ; wing-coverts very deep tawny, passing into chestnut 
on the tips of the coverts and secondaries ; primaries grey, tipped with brown ; tail black j sides of the neck 
pale chestnut j front of the throat and the under surface white, with a stripe of tawny down the middle, and 
a small streak of brown in the centre of each feather, the brown hue predominating and forming a conspi- 
cuous mark down the throat^’ No specimen has yet been obtained in New Zealand ansnering to the above 
account j but, so far as I can learn, the supposed example of the female in the Canterbury Museum (corre- 
sponding more nearly in plumage to the young as described above) was not dissected ; and without this it 
would of course be impossible to determine the sex. The young bird from which I have taken my description 
exhibits one or two new feathers among the wing-coverts, marked, as in the adult, with abroad central streak 
of blackish brown, thus indicating a transition to the more handsome variegated plumage ; and Dr. Garland, 
who dissected the specimen, informs me that it proved to be a male. The bird described by Mr.Purdie (/. c.) 
with “ rufous-brown eyes and buff wing-coverts ” was evidently in an immature state. 
Note. Since the publication of my first edition, two more specimens have been received at the Canterbury 
Museum, and these proved on dissection to be male and female. If the “ sexing ” in these cases is to be 
relied on, it would seem that, in our New-Zealand bird, the sexes are alike, the plain tawny wing-coverts being 
only a sign of immaturity. 
This Tittle Bittern is undoubtedly the true representative in our hemisphere of the Ardea minwta 
of Europe, to which it bears a very close resemblance both in appearance and in habits. It is a very 
rare species in Australia, where, according to Gould, only a few individuals have as yet been procured, 
and all of these from one locality. It is equally rare in New Zealand, and appears to be scarcely less 
local in its distribution. The first recorded specimens (two in number) were obtained by Mr. Shaw 
at Kanieri, on the west coast, in March 1868, and forwarded to the Canterbury Museum, where they 
are still preserved. Subsequently a third specimen was obtained in one of the swampy creeks that 
feed the Okarita lagoon — and another at the head of the Whakatipu Lake, above Queenstown, in the 
Province of Otago. I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Clapeott and Dr. Garland respectively for 
the specimens of the adult and young from which the above descriptions are taken; both of these 
were obtained in the vicinity of the Hokitika township, in the autumn of 1871 f. 
Mr. Dochertv, who collected some of the examples enumerated above, has furnished the following 
interesting notes on the subject i— “ They are to be found on the salt-water lagoons on the seashore, 
always hugging the timbered side of the same. I have seen them in two positions, viz. : standing 
on the bank of the lagoon, with their heads bent forward, studiously watching the water ; at other 
times I have seen them standing straight up, almost perpendicular ; 1 should say this is the proper 
*■ Writing of the Dwarf Bitterns in India, Bl 3 'th says ; — “ The male acquires his final livery at the first moult, tho female 
not before the third or fourth moult ; in the meanwhile she presents an intermediate garb, which is ultimately exchanged for 
the same livery as that of the male.” 
t I am indebted to tho llev. W. Colenso, D.E.S., for tho following note “ As far hack as the year 1836 tho Eev. Mr. 
Stack obtained at Tauranga a specimen of the Little Bittern, and sent it to the late Gilbert Mair, Esq., J.l’., who presented it to 
me. It was alive in my possession for some time, and I ultimately sent the skin to the Linnean Society. Hone of the natives in 
the district knew the bird.” 
VOL. II. ^ 
