themselves a blessing by preying on and arresting the progress of that noxious aphis known as “American blight” (Schizoneura lanigera). They remained with us for three months, and then departed as suddenly as they had come. They left before the orchard fruits, of which they are also fond, had ripened, and having proved themselves real benefactors they earned the gratitude of the settlers, while all the local newspapers sounded their well- deserved praises. During the two years that followed, the Zosterops was never heard of again in any part of the North Island; but in the winter of 1858 it again crossed the strait, and appeared in Wellington and its environs in greater numbers than before. During the four succeeding years it regularly wintered with us, recrossing the strait on the approach of spring. Since the year 1862, when it commenced to breed with us, it has been a permanent resident in the North Island, and from that time it continued to advance northwards. Mr. Colenso, of Napier, reports that it was first seen at Ahuriri in 1862. On his journey to Te Wairoa, in that year, he saw it at Aropauanui, and found its nest containing four fledgelings. The natives of that place told him that it was a new bird to them, they having first observed it there in the preceding year, 1861. The Hon. Major Atkinson, on the occasion of a visit, as Defence Minister, to the native tribes of the Upper Wanganui, in April, 1864, made enquiries on the subject, and was informed by the natives that the Zosterops had appeared in their district for the first time in 1863. As far as I can ascertain, they penetrated to Waikato in the following year, and pushed their way as far as Auckland in 1865. Captain Hutton reports that in the winter of 1867 they had spread all over the province, as far north as the Bay of Islands, and in 1868 he writes,—“They are now in the most northerly parts of this island.” That they have continued to move on still further northward would appear to be the case from the following interesting notes by Mr. G. B. Owen, communicated to me by Captain Hutton :—” On my passage from Tahiti to Auckland, per brig “Rita,” about 300 miles north of the North Cape of New Zealand, I saw one morning several little birds flying about the ship. From their twittering and manner of flying I concluded that they were land birds, and they were easily caught. They were of a brownish grey and yellowish colour, with a little white mark round the eye. I saw several pass over the ship during the day, travelling northwards. I arrived in Auckland a few days afterwards, on the 20th May, when the so-called Blight Birds appeared here in such numbers, and I at once recognized them as the same.” This tendency of migration northwards appears to me quite inconsistent with the idea of the species having come to us from Australia. Now let us ascertain something of its recorded history in the South Island. Mr. Potts, a most careful and experienced observer, writes to me :—