them. After ten minutes' flight the bird comes to the earth, and may be seen flitting over the rice-fields, now and then soaring up after some insect, often settling on some dead branch or post, where its pretty note becomes changed to a frog-like croak. A few minutes before sunrise the bird takes another flight high in the sky, and "Teta bōw" may be heard for a few minutes, when it drops to the earth, on which it rests, remaining silent and sleepy during the heat of the day until a few minutes past 6 P.M.]

Fam. CYPSELIDE.

262. CYPSELUS INFUMATUS.

Cypselus infumatus, Scl.; Salvad. t. c. p. 119; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1879, p. 333.

a, b.

ad. Kina Balu, Jan. 18, 1888.

[Fairly common.]

263. COLLOCALIA FUCIPHAGA.

Collocalia fuciphaga (Thunb.); Salvad. t. c. p. 120. a. ad. Lawas River, July 13, 1885.

264. COLLOCALIA LINCHI.

Collocalia linchi, Horsf. & Moore; Salvad. t. c. p. 121; Sharpe, Ibis, 1879, p. 250; id. P. Z. S. 1881, p. 793. a, b. ad. Kina Balu, March 2, 1887.

[Very plentiful wherever the rocks form small caves suitable for nesting in. The nests of this species are composed almost entirely of moss, a little saliva being used to fasten the structure to the rock. Eggs two, small, white, very often misshapen; laid in February. Axis 0.7, diam. 0.45.]

265. DENDROCHELIDON COMATA.

Dendrochelidon comata (T.); Salvad. t. c. p. 123; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1879, p. 334; id. Ibis, 1879, p. 250.

Macropterus comatus, Sharpe, Ibis, 1876, p. 33. a, b. ; c. ad. Lawas River, April 4, 1886.

[Only met with on the Lawas, where they frequented some dead trees at the water's edge.]

266. DENDROCHELIDON LONGIPENNIS.

Dendrochelidon longipennis (Rafin.); Salvad. t. c. p. 122; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1879, pp. 246, 334; id. Ibis, 1879, p. 250. Macropteryx longipennis, Sharpe, Ibis, 1876, p. 33.

a. ad. Benkoka, Sept. 15, 1885.

[This beautiful Swift is a common species, especially where the country is fairly open and old dead trees remain: these are its favourite perches.]

267. CHATURA CORACINA.

Chatura coracina (S. Müll.); Salvad. t. c. p. 124; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1879, p. 335.

a. Ad. Pulo Gaya.

[Rather a local species, frequenting the vicinity of forests. I have noticed this Swift entering holes in trees, where no doubt they nest.]

268. HIRUNDINAPUS GIGANTEUS.

Several times seen flying high in Labuan.

[To be continued.]

II.-On the supposed Occurrence of Strix parvissima, Ellman, in New Zealand. By W. W. SMITH.

SIR WALTER BULLER, in concluding the histories of Spiloglaux novæ-zealandiæ and Sceloglaux albifacies (B. of N. Z. 2nd ed. vol. i. p. 205, 1888), writes: "The two forms of Strigidæ described above are the only ones inhabiting New Zealand of which we have, as yet, any positive knowledge." In a footnote on the same page, Sir Walter quotes from 'Out in the Open,' a series of papers by the late Mr. T. H. Potts, which have been published in several journals. Mr. Potts, referring to the occurrence of a "very small Owl" in New Zealand, says, "From the information that has been gleaned about this rare bird, it would appear that one of its habitats used to be the woods about the Rangitātā River; one was captured with the hand on the bank of a creek at no great distance from Mount-Peel forest." Having

lived five years near the gorge of the Rangitātā River, and having during the whole time collected and made lists of the birds of the district, and knowing all particulars regarding the two captures which Mr. Potts refers to as having occurred in the district, I think I am able to explain the matter clearly.

In May 1880, Mr. Mitton, then manager of Mount-Peel Station, brought me a small living Owl, which he desired me to stuff and mount for him. He stated that it had been captured with the hand the previous afternoon by one of the shepherds, on his way home from Peel forest. In handing it to me he remarked that it was "surely a different kind of Owl," as it was so much smaller than any he had seen. I, however, explained to him at the time that it was none other than an exceptionally small "Morepork" (Spiloglaux novazealandiæ), and was no doubt a female, a fact which I subsequently verified while dissecting the specimen. It was an immature bird, the general plumage being slightly darker than many I have seen, and it lacked much of the distinct and neat markings of grey and white on the wings and breast peculiar to adult birds of that species. After being mounted, it was sent to some of Mr. Mitton's friends in Christchurch, but to whom I cannot at present say. A few weeks after the above-mentioned capture, the same gentleman brought me a slightly larger bird, which he had captured near the gorge. Since then I have taken two diminutive females in different localities and in similar plumage; but, excepting their smaller size, there was nothing to lead anyone with a slight knowledge of this little Owl and its variations to suppose them to belong to a smaller or distinct species.

Sir Walter Buller was careful to note that Mr. Potts "records the species on hearsay evidence"; but very little importance can be attached to such in the absence of a bondá fide specimen captured in the colony, or at least some more positive proof of its existence here, as these birds belong to the most perfectly explored division of our fauna. I think, if such a species as the supposed Strix parvissima had existed in our country, it would have long ago come under the notice

of some of the many able collectors who have been long resident in New Zealand.

Sir Walter has explained (op. cit. p. 193) that there is "considerable variation in size" in Spiloglaux nova-zealandia, and mentions one he received from Mr. W. T. L. Travers as "unusually small in all its proportions"; he also describes the specimen in the Leiden Museum as "equalling in size small examples of Spiloglaux novæ-zealandia"; indeed, the subject is so exhaustively treated in his great work, that no more need be added here. No New-Zealand colonist has ever had such facilities for collecting and studying the habits of our remarkable birds, and for examining collections in all parts of the world, as this distinguished ornithologist.

The fact of the specimen of the so-called Scops novazealandia in the Leiden Museum being labelled "Nouvelle Zélande" without more definite authority, is, I think, sufficient to justify Sir Walter Buller in excluding the species from his work on the birds of New Zealand.

III. On the Coloration of the Young in the Psittacine Genus Eclectus. By Dr. A. B. MEYER.

(Plate I.)

THE colour of the young of those species of the genus Eclectus in which the males are green and the females red has often been discussed, and every possible opinion has been maintained by various writers. I myself have had at different times very different and erroneous notions on this question, which, however, I believe I have settled definitely in my paper " Ueber die Farbung der Nestjungen von Eclectus, Wagl." (Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie,' vol. xxxvii. pp. 146-162). In this I proved that the young males are green and the young females red from the nest, as had been asserted by some authors before. In spite of this, Dr. Gadow (Bronn's 'Klassen und Ordnungen des Thierreichs,' vol. vi. pt. iv. Aves, p. 585) has even recently (1889) stated that the young ones are "reddish, but not yet green." This is, no doubt, a mistake.

Two

young females of E. roratus were figured by me in

the year 1884 from a pair hatched in captivity (Zeitschrift für die gesammte Ornithologie,' vol. i. p. 274, pl. xvi.), and I am now able to offer a figure (Plate I.) of a young male of the same species, hatched in captivity by the same gentleman whom I had to thank five years ago for the two females -Mr. P. Hieronymus, then of Karlsruhe, now of Blanken. burg in the Harz.

I need not describe in detail the plumage of the young male (No. 12,000, Mus. Dresd.) now figured, as all its characteristics are clearly shown in the Plate, and as the plumage from the very beginning equals that of the adult in the brilliancy of its green, blue, and red. It is, however, remarkable that all these colours of the adult male appear in this early stage of development of the plumage of the nestlings.

The young bird figured was not quite seven weeks old when it died; it lived from the 24th of June till the 9th of August, and died from suffocation by accident. The dissection proved it to be a male. Its mate, still living, is, judging from its green colour, likewise a male.

I may draw attention to the fact that the pair hatched by Mr. Hieronymus in the year 1884 consisted of two females, and that the pair recently hatched consisted of two males. I suppose that this also may occur in a state of nature, but that just as often the pair may be composed of male and female. As to this point I am not aware that trustworthy observtions have been made; the few as yet published will be found in my paper already quoted (Z. f. wiss. Zool. xxxvii. pp. 150, 151). Practical bird-breeders are of opinion that the first brood of the year are usually males and the second females. This may be the result of some observations, but I do not believe that it is a rule which can be relied upon. In a covey of Partridges there are said to be always more cocks than hens. The facts known as to the relative number of the two sexes in birds are very scanty and not at all to be relied upon. (See Darwin's 'Descent of Man,' 1871, vol. i. p. 306; v. Hensen, Physiologie der Zeugung,' 1881, p. 205; C. Düsing, Die Regulirung der Geschlechtsverhältnisse,' 1884, p. 181, &c.)

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