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DO i 
examined Forster’s original drawing of Ocydromus troglodytes at the British Museum, and although 
a very unfinished production, it certainly represents a highly-coloured specimen of Ocydromus australis. 
I trust I have succeeded in elucidating the very confused synonymy of this group and in giving some- 
thing like finality to the nomenclature. But the manner in which some of the forms intergrade 
renders the subject a very puzzling one. Under more than one aspect the Woodhen is a bird of con- 
siderable interest, and I have therefore endeavoured to do full justice to its natural history *. 
With the kind assistance of Mr. Salvin, who has made a special study of the Procellariidse for 
the purposes of his forthcoming ‘ Monograph,’ I have made a very complete list of our Petrels up to 
date, but 1 am persuaded that many more have yet to be added. As mentioned in my Introduction, 
the wide ocean which surrounds New Zealand is, so to speak, the great nursery of this family, and 
their breeding-grounds are the numerous rocks and islets which abound otf our coasts or the small 
groups of islands lying in mid-ocean and far out of the track of our ordinary commerce. Here is still 
a most promising field for future workers in New-Zealand ornithology. 
In his excellent ‘Critical Notes on Procellariidse ’ (Orn. Miscell. vol. i. pp. 249-257) Mr. Salvin 
says : — “ The exceedingly extensive range of many species of this family of birds adds to the difficulties 
of their study when the evidently close specific relationship between many of them is considered. But 
could we compare specimens taken from the Ireeding-stations, much of our perplexity would, I believe, 
vanish, and the slight differences observable in specimens captured at various points on the high seas 
would at once assume a greater value, and definite laws of geographical distribution would be found 
to prevail in these as in other birds. It is on certain islands that the Procellariidse assemble in the 
* Even in the Eev. Mr. Green’s ciiarming account of his ascent of Mount Cook, the ubiquitous Weka comes in for a passing 
notice. Camped at the edge of a little blue lake, fringed with scrub, at the foot of the Tasman glacier, he writes : — “ Here, for 
the first time, we found tho Ifew Zealand edelweiss {On.aphalium grandiceps), and men seemed to take fresh heart after all 
their fagging work, when we had our hat-hands adorned with the familiar little felt-like flowers. After a good night's rest on a 
bed of Veronica Jiectori, we continued our ‘ swagging,’ and on the next afternoon, Eeb. 23, wo reached our fifth and final camp. 
We were now 3750 feet above the sea, having gained by a week’s labour only 1450 feet of actual elevation, and Mount Cook 
still towered 9000 feet above us. Our advance was here checked by the ice of the much broken Ball glacier coming down from 
our left, and though we carried our swags on to its surface in hopes of camping farther up, the absence of scrub on- the further 
spurs, of sufficient size to promise a supply of firewood, made us retrace our stops and pitch our tents on a gravel slope close to 
the mountain side, in the angle formed by the Ball and Tasman glaciers. Hero a glacier stream provided us with water, and the 
vicinity of our camp was strewn with dead wood brought down by landslips and avalanches from tho steep slopes above. Whilst 
looking for a suitable nook for our tent, Boss came upon a little square patch of dwarfed gnarled Coprosma exactly tho square of 
our tent. It grew by itself on the gravel in a snug corner, and seemed as if prepared so specially for our use that we did not 
wish to decline the hospitality of nature. Filling up, therefore, the centre of the square with some cut hushes we pitched our 
tent on it. Never was a bed more comfortable ; its spring was perfect, we never sank to within less than 5 inches or 6 inches 
of the ground ; and so long as the Wekas contented themselves with squeaking and grunting, and not pecking upwards, we did 
not wish to deny them the comfortable lodging beneath us, which they seemed to appreciate. From this camp we made a long 
day’s excursion up the main glacier and completed our reconnaissance of tho ridges of Mount Cook ; and from a point on tho 
medial moraine I took a circle of angles with a view to making my map, and secured a couple of negatives of the Hochstetter 
ice-fall. But the light was so brilliant, there not being a cloud in the sky, that over-exposure of my plates was almost unavoid- 
able. A brisk breeze, occasionally blowing in sudden strong squalls from south-west or north-west, prevailed in tho valley, while 
on the mountain ridges a steady, fierce wind seemed to blow continuously from the west. Tho Woodhens or Wekas {Ocydromus 
australis) were a source of constant amusement ; they seemed to know no fear, and would come picking and examining every 
article in our camp, and were always ready to bolt off with any small object left on the ground. They cared little for the stones 
we threw at them, and all night they kept up a constant whistling, accompanied by a kind of grunting noise. On tho stream 
hard by we had an inexhaustible supply of Blue Ducks {Uymenolaimus malacorliyncAiis) ; there wore never many to he seen at 
a time, hut when we shot three or four one day a couple of brace more would occupy the same part of the stream next morning. 
They were not wild, so in order to save cartridges we generally pelted stones to get them close together, and then tumbled two 
or three in the one shot.” 
2 X 
VOL. II. 
