Oedek STEGANOPODES.] 
[Eam. PELECANID^. 
PLOTUS NOV^ HOLLANDIiE. 
(AUSTRALIAN DARTER.) 
New-IIolland Barter, Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. x. p. 453 (1824). 
Plotus novce liollandixe, Gould, Proc. Z. S. part xv, p. 34 (1847). 
Exempl. ex N. Z. Viridescenti-niger : dorso brunnescente lavato ; gula maculis albis sagittiformibus notata : fascia 
lata albd a basi mandibularum usque ad latera colli extensS, : scapularibus lauceolatis, medialiter griseo- 
albis, late nigro marginatis : gutture imo rufo lavato. 
Neiv- Zealand specimen. Crown, nape, bind part of neck, and shoulders blackisb brown, mottled with white, each 
feather being narrowly edged with it ; the whole of the hack and rninp black; quills and tail-feathers black, 
the inner webs of the former tinged with purplish brown, and the three innermost secondaries with a broad 
longitudinal stripe of white on their outer vane ; bastard quills and the superior primary coverts black, the 
inner ones slightly tipped with white ; the larger secondary coverts are white on their outer webs and beyond 
the shaft, then black with a sharply defined edge ; the smaller coverts white in their central portion, with a 
black lanceolate stripe on each web and narrowly margined with white ; towards the edge of the wing the 
feathers are black Avith a central arrow-head spot of white, becoming entirely greyish white at the carpal 
flexure ; scapulars black with a broad stripe of dull white on their outer webs ; the coverts white in their 
central portion with black shafts, a broad stripe of black on each web with a narrow outer margin of white ; 
throat, fore neck, and all the underparts buffy white ; under surface of the wings and tail black. A broad 
line of black extends from the posterior edge of the eyes down the side of the neck, separating the dark 
brown of the hind neck from the white plumage of the under surface. The middle tail-feathers, and the 
innermost scapulars on the outer rvebs, have a peculiar crimped surface. Bill yellowish horn-colour, brownish 
towards the base of the upper mandible; the inner cutting-edges of both mandibles armed with minute 
sharp barbs inclined backwards. Feet dull yellow, shaded with brown ; claws yellowish brown. Total 
length (approximately) 40 inches; wing, from flexure, 14; tail (consisting of eight feathers) 10; culmenS 15; 
bill, along the edge of lower mandible 4‘25 ; tarsus 3; longest toe and claw 3‘8 ; hind toe and claw 1 5. 
The Canterbury Museum contains a roughly pi'epared skin of the Australian Darter {Plotus novce 
liollandice) obtained under circumstances which leave no doubt in my mind of the occurrence of this 
bird as a straggler in New Zealand. 
The late Mr. F. E. Fuller, an excellent taxidermist attached to the Museum, during a visit to 
Hokitika in January 1874, found the skin stretched flat and nailed up inside an old shed. He brought 
it away, but could get no information as to how it came there. An examination of the skin shows 
clearly that it was in a fresh state when affixed to the wall, the edges having, in the process of drying, 
shrunk away from the nails on both sides. 
It would seem that some digger or working settler, probably attracted by the rarity of the bird, 
had adopted this rude mode of preserving it. At any rate the skinning-operation appears to have 
been performed by unskilful hands, an open slit having been made from the hind part of the head 
right down the back to the root of the tail. 
The suggestion Avill occur that the bird may have come doAvn from Australia in some vessel ; but 
the condition of the tail-feathers, which to the very tips are clean and unbroken, proves, I think, that 
