OCR Text |
Show 1878.] COLLECTED BY THE'CHALLENGER.' 577 give an account of the specimens obtained on the Tristan-d'Acunha group and Kerguelen's Land, and of a few small collections made at various other localities which were touched at during the course of the expedition. I have arranged all these, according to the dates at which the places were visited, as follows:- Date. No. of specimens. A. St. Iago, Cape-Verds July 1873 4 B. Tristan d'Acunha October 1873 12 C. Kerguelen Land January 1874 16 D. New Zealand June 1874 4 E. Hong-Kong December 1874 7 F. Meangis Islands February 1875 3 G. At sea February 22, 1875 2 H. Humboldt Bay, New Guinea .. February 24, 1875 2 I. At sea April 7," 1875 5 J.Japan May 1875 4 59 A. St. Iago, Cape-Verds (July 1873). Four examples of the peculiar King-hunter of this Island, Halcyon erythrogastra (Temm.), Sharpe's Kingf. p. 171, pl. 63, were obtained here. In one specimen the eyes are marked " black," and the contents of the stomach "insects." B. Tristan-d'Acunha group (October 1873). Seven examples of the peculiar Thrush of Tristan d'Acunha, described by Mr. Gould, P. Z. S. 1855, p. 165, as Nesocichla eremita, were obtained. The sexes are not marked ; but the specimens are all nearly alike, so that probably the sexes do not differ in plumage. The irides are noted as " black." In the adjoining island "Inaccessible," five specimens of the peculiar Finch lately described by Dr. Cabanis (Journ. f. Orn. 1873, p. 154) as Nesospiza acunhee were obtained. All five are alike; the eyes are marked " hazel; " but the sexes are not recorded. Of Crithagra insularis, described by Dr. Cabanis at the same time as the Nesospiza, there is no specimen in the collection, nor of the Island-Hen (Gallinula nesiotis, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1861, p. 261). The latter is said to be now almost extinct1. The only oceanic birds in the collection from the Tristan-d'Acunha group are two Petrels, Pelagodroma marina and QHstrelata mollis, both from Nightingale Island, the most southern of the three islands of the group, and one Penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome) from Inaccessible ; but Sir W y ville Thomson (Atl. ii. pp. 164, 178) mentions several others. C. Kerguelen Land (January 1874). The only land-birds from Kerguelen Land in the collection are 1 Wyville-Thomson, ' Atlantic,' ii. p. 165. |