Publications Archive

Fossil Counterparts of Giant Penguins from the North Pacific, by Storrs L. Olson & Yoshikazu Hasegawa. 1979. Science 206, 9 November.

Subfossil remains of a large flightless coot were first discovered on Chatham Island (Fulica chathamensis), and subsequently in the South Island by (Fulica prisca). Further discoveries have considerably enlarged the geographic range on the New Zealand mainland. However, general agreement on the number of forms admitted and their generic and specific status has yet to be reached.

Monthly bird counts were carried out at Lake Wainono, South Canterbury, from August 1968 to April 1978. Highest numbers of birds were at the lake from January to April because of a post-breeding increase in numbers of 18 common species. Six species reached peak numbers during the winter and only five during spring and early summer. Since 1968 White-faced Herons (Ardea novaehollandiae) have declined in numbers, whereas Paradise Shelducks (Tadorna variegata), Spur-winged Plovers (Vanellus miles novaehollandiae) and Black-backed Gulls (Larus dominicanus) have increased in numbers.

This paper examines the field identification, distribution, and taxonomy of the six species of Pachyptila. Particular attention is given to the identification of storm-cast material. The data include observations of prions at sea, on their breeding grounds, and 10,086 specimens examined over a 21-year period from 1958 to 1979. The validity of the six recognised species of Pachyptila is reaffirmed, and one subspecies each of the Fairy Prion (Pachyptila turtur) and the Fulmar Prion (Pachyptila crassirostris) is retained. The need for further ecological data, better food analyses, and carefully defined behavioural studies is stressed. The value of biochemical genetics for elucidating the speciation mechanisms of Pachyptila emphasises the preliminary nature of the present findings.

Observations are given on vegetable foods of the Brown Creeper (Finschia novaeseelandiae) and on aspects of breeding. We examined 21 nests in the field and recorded some details of nesting, eggs (colour, clutch-size, proportion of time spent incubating) and nestlings (description of the hatchling, weights and tarsal lengths).

1979. NZ Archaeological Association Monograph 11. BAR International Series 62. This book consists of 17 osteological and archaeological papers written and published in honour of Ron Scarlett. The papers are written, in collaboration or individually, by 22 authors, including Scarlett himself, who apparently collaborated in one paper and wrote another on request without knowing where they were to be published.

Reviewer, D. H. Brathwaite

“The birds around us. New Zealand birds, their habits and habitats” by Geoff Moon. William Heinemann (NZ) Ltd. pp. 1-206.  

Pellet casting was studied in a population of South Island robins (Petroica australis australis) at Kowhai Bush, Kaikoura from April 1977 to July 1978. Pellet regurgitation is described. Casting has a diurnal rhythm. Monthly regurgitation rates reflected the diet of the robins, with the highest rates occurring in the summer months when the main food is berries and invertebrates with their indigestible seeds and exoskeletons. It was calculated that, during February 1978, the month of highest mean egestion rate, a Robin would egest six pellets per day. The effect of age and sex on the frequency of castings is discussed.

Letter to the Editor, 13 June 1979

The feeding ecology of the Wrybill (Anarhynchus frontalis) was compared between two sites – a flood-prone riverbed and a stable riverbed. Larvae of aquatic insects, particularly mayfly (Deleatidium spp.), were the main prey of Wrybills, which captured them by a variety of methods. The sideways-bent bill was useful in capturing insects from the under-surface of stones where they would normally have been inaccessible to birds with shorter, straight, or even up-curved bills. The evolutionary significance of the bent bill is discussed with reference to climatic trends during and since the Pleistocene period. During floods, aquatic prey was relatively unavailable to Wrybills, causing them to switch to riparian foraging.