BIRDS TO COLONIAL MUSEUM.

5

G.—No. 29.

No. 6. Dr. Hectok to Mr. G. S. Cooper. Sic, — Colonial Museum, "Wellington, 3rd August, 1871. I have the honor to forward, for the information of the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, a descriptive catalogue of the Native and introduced birds of New Zealand, which has been drawn up by Captain Hutton, in compliance with my instructions. As it partly forms a report on the collection recently purchased for the Colony from Mr. Buller, and embodies in a form available for general use the chief advantage gained by that purchase, together with all other information that can be obtained on the subject, I beg to recommend that it should be printed for circulation. I have, &c, The Under Colonial Secretary. James Hectoe.

Enclosure in No. 6. Catalogue of the Bieds of New Zealand, by Captain ~F. "W. Hutton, F.G.S., Assistant Geologist to the Geological Survey of New Zealand. Introduction. This catalogue has been prepared, by direction of Dr. Hector, in the hope that it will enable naturalists in New Zealand to name correctly any bird whose habits they may have noticed, and so render their observations useful to science. It has been drawn up chiefly from the collection of birds purchased from Mr. Buller for the Colonial Museum, which contains type specimens of all his newspecies, except Oerygone assimilis and Creadion cinereus, but I have also examined all the Museums and several private collections in the Colony, and by these means have been able to see 143 out of the 159 species here described. To make it as complete as possible, a list of introduced birds, as far as I know them, has been added. Birds of doubtful authenticity as natives are marked with an. *, and a note of interrogation is placed before those species which appear to me to be of doubtful value, and these doubtful species in all cases follow immediately after the one with which they will probably have to be united. Those species represented in the Colonial Museum are marked CM., while O.M. means that the specimen described is in the Otago Museum; CT. M., in the Canterbury Museum; and N.M., in the Nelson Museum. All measurements are in inches and decimal parts of an inch. L. means the length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail; 8., means the length of the bill from the tip to the gape ; "W"., means the length of the wing from the flexure or carpal joint to the tip, except in the case of the Penguins, where it means the whole length of the wing; T., means the length of the tarsus, or lower part of the leg. The least satisfactory part is, I am afraid, the geographical distribution of the species and genera; for such information is difficult to obtain in a Colony. The nomenclature of the species, except in one or tivo doubtful cases, such as Lams Jamesoni, will I trust be found tolerably correct, but for this, I, in common with all naturalists in New Zealand, am deeply indebted to Dr. O. Enseh, without whose labours it would have been impossible, out here, to have corrected, many of the mistakes which have gradually crept into our lists of birds. P. W. Htjtton. Colonial Museum, "Wellington, August, 1871. [Here follows a list of 159 birds, natives of New Zealand, and sixty-nine birds which have been introduced since the settlement of the country; each genus and species having a short diagnosis prefixed. This list has been published in a separate form.] Sub-Enclosure to Enclosure in No. 6. Hieracidea Novss Zealandiae.—B specimens, showing the various states of plumage incident to age and sex. Circus Gouldii (Harrier). —5 specimens (dhTerence of age and sex represented). Athene Novas Zealandias (New Zealand Owl). —4 specimens (including a small variety from the South Island). Athene albifacies. —1 specimen. Halcyon vagans.—2 specimens. Heteralocha Gouldii (Huia). —4 specimens. Prosthemadera Nova? Zealandias.—3 specimens (including a beautiful albino, unique). Pogonornis cincta.—2 specimens (male and female). Anthornis melanura.—2 specimens. Anthochsera Bulleri.—l specimen (unique). Anthornis auriocula. —1 specimen (unique). Anthornis ruficeps.—2 specimens. Xenicus longipes.—2 specimens. Xenicu3 Haastii.—2 specimens. Acanthisitta chloris.—3 specimens (1 male and 2 female). Mohoua ochrocephala.—2 specimens. Mohoua albicilla.—^2 specimens. Sphenoeaeus punctatus.—l specimen. Sphenceacus ruiescens.—l specimen (unique). 2