Order PODICE PI FORMES. 
No. 107. 
Family PODICEPIDIE . 
POLIOCEPHALUS RUFOPECTUS. 
NEW ZEALAND DABCHICK. 
(Plate 78.) 
Podiceps (Poliocephalus) rueopectus Gray, iii Dieffenbach’s Travels in New Zealand, Vol. II., 
p. 119, mid-Jan., 1S43: North Island, New Zealand. 
Podiceps rufopectus Gray, in Dieffenb. Trav. New Zeal., Vol. II., p. 119, mid-Jan., 1843; Gray, 
Zoo!., “ Voy. Erebus and Terror,” p. 16, pi. 19, June, 1845 ; Buller, Birds New Zealand, 
p. 350, 1873 ; id., 2nd edn., Vol. II., p. 280, Dec., 1888 ; id., Suppl., Vol. I., p. 76, 1906; 
Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. 523, 1898 (pref. Sept. 30tli). 
Fulica novazealandice Colenso, Tasm. Joum. Sci., Vol. II., p. 283, April, 1845 : North Island. 
Poliocephalus rufopectus Mathews and Iredale, Ibis, 1913, July, p. 218 ; Mathews, Syst. Av. 
Austral., p. 104, Jmie 13tli, 1927 ; id., Emu, Vol. XXIX., pt. 4, p. 279, April 1st, 1930. 
Distribution. New Zealand (both islands). 
Adult male. Fore-head, crown of head, occiput and nape black, glossed with dull metallic-green 
and with long white filaments to the feathers of the fore-head and sides of the head ; hind- 
neck and upper mantle dull greyish-brown ; lower mantle and scapulars blackish-grey, 
fringed with lighter grey ; middle of the lower back and rump black ; sides of the rump 
and the upper tail-coverts white, tipped with blackish-grey ; wing-coverts blackish-grey; 
primary-quills and secondaries blackisli-grey on the terminal half and pure white on the 
basal half ; tail-feathers blackish-grey mixed with rufous ; lores dark smoke-grey; sides 
of face, ear-coverts, cheeks, chin and throat smoky-brown, the former with white filaments 
at the end of each feather ; fore-neck and chest rich chestnut; breast and abdomen silky-white, 
sides of body, flanks, thighs and under tail-coverts smoke-brown marked with rufous; 
under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white. Eyes silver-grey ; bill bluish-grev; culrnen 
black ; feet light olive. Total length about 320 mm. : culmen 26, wing 117, tail 48, tarsus 
42. This is a subspecies of P. poliocephalus of Australia. 
Adult female. Resembles adult male described above, but the head is duller, the ornamental 
plumes on the head fewer, the throat soiled-white and the chest and breast only just tinged 
with vinous. Total length about 300 mm. : culmen 25, wing 114, tail 38, tarsus 42. 
Nestling. Covered with short, thick, yellowish-white down, with a broad central longitudinal band 
of blackish-brown extending the whole length of the body, with discontinuous band on the 
sides of the body. 
Immature. Head black, variegated on the crown with bright ferruginous, and marked on the sides 
with two broad streaks of bufTy-white ; throat and neck yellowish-buff streaked with 
black ; upper-parts and sides of the body dusky-black, mottled with fulvous ; breast and 
abdomen bu fly-white. Bill dark brown, with a black bar across the middle and another 
near the top. 
Immature female. Resembles the adult described above, but the head is blackish-brown without 
gloss ; a line of white feathers above the eye continued along the sides of the crown, and a 
similar line from the eye to the ear-coverts ; the throat white, the upper-parts duller, and 
the chest dull rufous-red. (Port Cooper, New Zealand.) 
Nest. Bulky and loosety constructed of the roots and leaves of the vegetation growing by the edges 
of the water ; mostly w r ell hidden. 
Eggs. Clutch two ; greenish-white when fresh, with the usual lumps on the shell. As incubation 
advances the eggs get nest-stained brownish. 40-43 mm. by 25 to 28*5. 
Breeding-season. October to December. 
78 
