Art. XXII.—Further descriptive Notes of the Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris.)

By Walter L. Buller, C.M.G., Sc.D.

Plate V.

[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 17th November, 1877.]

Heteralocha acutirostris, Buller.—"Birds of New Zealand," pp. 63-68.

To the full account which I have already published of this rare species, I wish to add the following notes:—

Young female.—Differs from adult bird in having the entire plumage of a duller black, or slightly suffused with a brownish tinge and with very little gloss on the surface. Under tail-coverts tipped with white, and the terminal white bar on the tail washed with rufous-yellow—especially in the basal portion. Wattles small and pale-coloured. Bill only slightly curved, as represented in fig. 1.

In another specimen in my possession, apparently a year older, the tail-coverts are without the margin, the white on the tail-feathers is purer, and the bill is perceptibly longer, with a darkened tip.

Young male.—In comparing a specimen received at the same time with the above, the same general remarks apply, except that the under tail-coverts are not tipped with white at all, while the soft feathers on the lower part of the abdomen are largely tipped with pale rufous and white. The pale rufous wash on the tail-bar is likewise more conspicuous. The bill presents the outline shown in fig. 2.

For purposes of comparison I have reproduced in the accompanying plate (fig. 3) my former drawing of the bill in the fully-developed female. Fig. 4 represents a curious deformity, if it may be so called, in a specimen which recently passed through my hands. The lower mandible having been at some time accidentally broken off, the upper mandible had considerably overgrown it, becoming somewhat thickened beyond the point of friction.