246 Mr. E. L. LayarcPs Ornithological Notes 
I had a remarkably good opportunity of watching the motions 
of a Cormorant. I was standing on the Brittomart battery, over¬ 
looking Auckland harbour, and the bird was fishing in the 
shallow water below me, so that I could see him distinctly while 
under water . On diving, he progressed by means of his wings 
and webbed feet, using his tail as a rudder and an oar besides: 
this fully accounts for the length and stiffness of this organ in 
all these birds. He doubled as quick as any fish. I saw him 
shoot out his neck and capture his prey several times, on which 
he rose to the surface and swallowed it: he never pouched below 
water. Another time, while standing on a high cliff, I saw a 
Gannet ( Sula australis ) suddenly drop from a height into the clear 
water; and as he passed over a bed of sand, I could distinctly see 
every movement. The bird shot down in a slanting direction, 
wings half closed and tail compressed; he slid through the 
water as if propelled by the feet alone, his body swerving from 
side to side with the violence of the exertion, seized a fish some 
yards from the place of his entry, continued a slanting course 
upwards, shot into the air with a bound, and resumed his flight 
in a moment. 
It is singular that no Swallows visit New Zealand. It cannot 
be that the islands are too distant from Australia, where several 
Swallows abound, because two, if not three, species of Cuckoo 
(Eudynarnys taitensis and Chrysococcyx lucidus) perform the 
journey in their annual migration twice every year. 
I left New Zealand on the 1st of August and sailed for 
Sydney. The birds observed en route were in no wise remark¬ 
able, the usual species found about the shores of New Zealand 
extending over to the coast of Australia. Neither need I allude 
to those seen between Sydney and Adelaide, or during a delightful 
trip in quest of Kangaroos and Black Swans as far as Lakes Alex¬ 
andria and Albert. Suffice it to say that the latter still swarm 
on both lakes literally in hundreds, and that two fell before my 
revolving rifle and are now safe in the Cape Museum. Of my 
delight at seeing black Cockatoos and white Cockatoos, gaudy 
Parrots and Wattle-birds, Semipalmated and Cereopsis Geese, in 
their own country, I must leave you to judge, and pass on to 
note the sea-fowl of our homeward voyage across a portion of 
