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In 1865 Buller named a ‘hitherto undescribed’ crested grebe Podiceps Hectori after its collector. Several other records and observations precede Buller’s description: Heaphy saw ‘Grebes,’ possibly crested grebes, on Lake Rotoroa, Nelson, in 1846; Grey presented a specimen of ‘P. cristatus‘ from New Zealand to the British Museum (Natural History) in 1847; Potts ‘first made its acquaintance’ on Lake Selfe, Canterbury, in 1856 but did not publish this till 1869; Haast in 1861 published a definite record of ‘crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus ?)’ on Lake Rotoroa, Nelson; Hector’s diaries indicate that he collected and identified the bird on which Buller based his Podiceps Hectori at Lake Wakatipu in April 1863 (Hector listed ‘Crested Grebe, Podiceps Cristatus‘ in his note-book for May-June 1863).