Mr. H. H. Travers (see “Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” v., p. 216, 1872), in a paper on the Birds of the Chatham Islands, says: “I obtained a specimen on Mangare with a faint yellow tinge on the head.”

Mr. Potts (“Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” vi., p. 148, 1873): “A specimen with yellow plumage.”

Dr. Buller (“Birds of N.Z.,” p. 61) describes three instances:—

A young bird taken from the nest, “and not fully fledged, had the plumage of the body pale yellow, shaded with green on the upper parts, and the quills and tail-feathers marked with red.”

“Another had numerous light crescentic marks on the wing-coverts.”

The third, captured in the Manawatu, had quite a dazzling combination of colours: “Frontal band, crimson; vertex, golden yellow; space round the eyes, and a band encircling the neck, green; head, shoulders, and lower part of back, red, and the intermediate space variegated with red and green; quills dusky, obscurely banded with yellow, and margined on the outer web with blue; wing-coverts greenish yellow, barred and margined with red; tail feathers green, obscurely barred with yellow in their apical portion; under-parts green, variegated with crimson and yellow; an interrupted band of the former colour crossing the breast.”

This specimen was kept in confinement, and during the moulting season was fast losing its distinctive colouring, when it was accidentally killed.

The sixth example is the specimen now before you. The general plumage is of a beautiful canary yellow. A band of dark crimson connects the eyes, passing across the forehead just above the base of the bill. The crimson spot on either side of the uropygium is larger and much more brilliant than in the normal specimen. Quills and tail-feathers yellow, but with patches of blue, green, and dark brown, except the under tail-feathers, which are a rich yellow; shafts of all feathers white. On raising the feather the underneath downy portions are seen to be pure white, instead of blueish slate, as is usual. Bill, white; feet, yellow; legs normal colour.