FEATHERS.
Much stress has been laid upon the harshness and softness of plumage in the several species of Apteryges—so much so, that two forms are attempted to be specifically differentiated thereby; and one person goes the length of saying he can distinguish Apteryx australis (with soft plumage) from A. mantelli, the North-Island bird (with harsh), having his eyes shut. In a series of these and others, I have tried to establish this difference, and am bound to say I do find it, but only in a slight degree. Dr. Duller says, in his 'Birds of New Zealand,' that of the two specimens of Sceloglaux albifacies in the Canterbury Museum, the one from the North Island is darker than the one from the South Island. In this case appears a slight climatal and local variation, which may be constant, but hardly is of importance enough to establish a species. Mr. Potts remarks ('Transactions of the New-Zealand Institute,' vol. v. 1872, p. 193):—"Specimens" (A. owenii) "obtained south of the Waitaroa river, in Westland, present some differences of plumage by which they can readily be distinguished from skins in the Canterbury Museum, which were obtained in the neighbourhood of Hokitika. The birds from the northerly districts have a more flocculent plumage, lighter in tone than those which are found in the country lying under the shadow of Mount Cook." Now Dr. Finsch pronounces the harshness of plumage in a series to have "different degrees observable." He regards the difference as "only that of a race or local form" ('Transactions of the New-Zealand Institute,' 1872, vol. v. p. 212). I have myself observed this
