Although the New Zealand fernbirds were long maintained in their own genus Bowdleria, some authors have recently submerged them in the Australasian genus Megalurus. The osteology of the fernbirds shows them to be very distinct, however, so that the genus Bowdleria is fully justified. The skull of Bowdleria is most similar to that of Amphilais (“Dromaeocercus“) seebohmi of Madagascar and these two species are similar in plumage and tail structure as well. A particularly close relationship between Bowdleria and Megalurus may thus be doubted. Bowdleria is characterized by reduced elements of the wing and pectoral girdle, and a strikingly modified pelvis combined with very robust hindlimb elements. This functional complex of the hindlimb is quite unlike any of the presumed close relatives of Bowdleria, but convergent similarities are identified in several other passerine groups. On the basis of plumage and osteology. Bowdleria rufescens of the Chatham Islands is a very distinct species from B. punctata.
Three feeding methods are described for fantails (Rhipidura fuliginosa): hawking, flushing, and feeding associations. Hawking fantails cover large distances, use any available perch, and often feed above the forest canopy. Flushing fantails cover small distances, perch on twigs and small branches, and feed mostly within the canopy or on the ground. Fantails in feeding associations feed where the species being followed feeds. Changes in the proportion of use of each feeding method in relation to breeding stage are described; the sexes did not differ in feeding methods during breeding. By using several feeding methods, fantails forage in a wider range of microhabitats and so may obtain a wider range of prey than they would by only one method.
In 1987, 3,776 kilometres of coast were patrolled and 4,124 dead seabirds were found, well below the average for the previous 17 years (10,624). Unusual finds were a white-bellied storm petrel (Fregetta grallaria), a Kermadec petrel (Pterodroma neglecta) and a red-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda). A summary is given of the coastal and monthly distributions for Procellaria species found during the 1960-1986 period. The most frequently recovered species was the black petrel (P. parkinsoni), the number found annually varying markedly.
The feeding behaviour of New Zealand kingfishers (Halcyon sancta vagans) overwintering at Brooklands Lagoon, a coastal North Canterbury estuary, is described. Kingfishers watched for crabs from perches on or near the mudflats and caught crabs on 96% of dives. Kingfishers then battered them against a perch; parts of the crabs such as the chelae were knocked off in the process. Fallen chelae (n = 225) provided information about species, size and sex of crabs taken. Crabs were collected in mud samples from 10 sites to compare the size, sex and species of crabs present on the mudflats with those taken by kingfishers. Kingfishers fed only on the mud crab Helice crassa, which was the most abundant crab species on the mudflats. Male crabs and large crabs were taken more often proportionally than they were in the
mud samples.