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Nestling. Covered with thick down of a jet-black colour ; forehead and fore paid of crown and a broad space 
round tlie eyes and across the chin perfectly bare and of a pale blue, changing to purplish flesh-colour 
towards the base of lower mandible. The feathers come first on the back and flanks, the quills and tail- 
feathers also making an early appearance. The newly-hatched chick is almost wholly bare ; and in its next 
state it is sparsely covered with short, smoky-grey down, looking as if it had been singed in the fiie, the 
head and neck being still bare and resembling the leather of a black kid glove. Down the abdomen there is 
a line of white which widens out near the vent. 
Fledgling. The fully-fledged nestling is all black, but, in some specimens, immediately below the gular sac, 
which is greenish yellow, there are a few narrow white feathers interspersed among the black. 
Varieties. Although the plumage described above is undoubtedly that of the adult, this species appears to 
exhibit a dimorphic phase. In almost every flock (say of a dozen) a bird will be observed having the throat, 
fore neck, and entire under surface pure white. Between this extreme form and the normal w'hitc-throated 
bird every intermediate condition of plumage may from time to time be met with, although the vast majority 
of these birds have merely white throats. My series presents the following gradation ; 
No. 1. Entirely black (young bird). 
No. 2. White- throated as described above (both sexes alike). 
No. 3. The white extends down the fore neck and terminates sharply on the crop. 
No. 4. The white extends further and is mixed irregularly with the black on the breast, the former 
preponderating. 
No. 5. Has the abdomen also largely marked with white. 
No. 6. Has the entire under surface white with a few widely scattered black feathers. 
No. 7. Has the well-defined black and white plumage, as described above. 
I think it is the safest course to account for this variation on the theory of dimorphism, because the 
two forms interbreed j whilst, as fixing the normal plumage, I may mention that on visiting one of their 
nesting-colonies I found the breeding-birds (of both sexes) in the ordinary white-throated plumage, without 
a single exception. 
A specimen in the British Museum, with a very white throat, has the plumage of the underparts largely 
tipped with pale brown. 
Mr. Sharpe’s P. finschi is undoubtedly only an albinoid form of P . brevirostris. I have examined 
his type in the British Museum, which was in the collection of New-Zealand birds brought home by the 
Antarctic Expedition. It is in the pied plumage described above, with the following differences : The 
frontal feathers, which are somewhat lengthened, are pure white ; on each wing there is a large subtriangular 
patch of white, covering the median coverts ; the white is pretty even on both wings, but on one of them it 
extends to the outer web of one of the longer coverts, and there is likewise a white feather among the 
seapulars, thus betraying the albinism. But what places the matter beyond all doubt is the existence of 
another example in the British Museum, more recently received from W ellington, in which the white 
markings are considerably extended. In this example the white alar patch is again present, although 
appreciably larger in one wing than the other j the scapulars on both sides are almost entirely white, so also 
is the middle portion of the back, whilst there are numerous white feathers scattered through the black 
plumage covering the shoulders ; on the crown the black is reduced to a small irregular patch, whilst on 
the nape there is a disconnected stripe of black, the rest of the neck being pure white. It is apparent, at a 
glance, that this is a case of albinism ; and by labelling this also P, finschi, Mr. Sharpe practically admits 
that his supposed new species will not stand. 
Another example of the pied form in the British-Museum collection has the feathers covering the 
shoulders and the median upper wing-coverts narrowly margined with brownish white, outside the velvet 
border, imparting a lively effect to the plumage of the upper surface. 
Note. At Whakatane, in the month of January, 1886, 1 saw a flock of seven, five of which were in the oidinaiy 
white-throated state. Of the remaining two, one was entirely black, the other had white underparts and 
a conspicuous spot of white on each wing. This at once raised a doubt in my mind (now confirmed) as to the 
specific value of the bird referred to by myself in the following note: “ Mr. W. 1. L. Travers, who has 
VOL. II. ^ 
