Publications Archive

Anderson, A. (editor) 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.

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.

by Arbocco, G., L. Capocaccia, L., Violani, C.

1979. Ann. Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Genova 82: 184-265

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

During 1970, 2,152 kilometres of coast were patrolled by 82 persons. 4,613 dead seabirds, including high numbers of lesser broad-billed prions (Pachyptila salvini), were found. During 1971, 2,470 kilometres of beach were patrolled by 148 persons. 6,244 dead seabirds, including high numbers of fairy prions (P. turtur) were found. During 1972, 2,748 kilometres of beach were patrolled by 117 persons. 4,046 dead seabirds were found but there were no major wrecks. During the three years there were new beach patrol records of soft-plumaged petrel (Pterodroma mollis), fulmar prion (Pachyptila crassirostris), brown booby (Sula leucogaster), lesser frigate bird (Fregata ariel) and Antarctic skua (Stercorarius skua maccormicki). The single specimen of Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) is a new record for New Zealand.

The pukeko, or purple swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio melanotus), has monomorphic plumage, which makes sexing of the living bird difficult. A method of sexing using body measurements has been proposed (Williams & Miers 1958), but it uses measurements and cut-off values which are not fully reliable. While cut-off values may vary geographically, the reliability of the different measurements should not. This paper uses multivariate techniques to investigate the reliability of combinations of measurements for sexing swamphens and outlines the problems with the existing method.