PASSERIFORMES Perching birds
The information presented here is identical to that contained in the fifth edition of the Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand (Checklist Committee 2022). To access a pdf version of the Checklist click here.
Symbols and Abbreviations
➤ Indicates a species (cf. subspecies)
* Indicates a species (or other taxon) introduced to the New Zealand region
† Indicates an extinct taxon
a.s.l., above sea level
NMNZ, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
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Order PASSERIFORMES: Passerine (Perching) Birds
Sibley et al. (1982) suggested that Acanthisittidae were basal among passerines, and proposed separating them as the infraorder Acanthisittides. Subsequent molecular work by Ericson et al. (2002) and F. Barker et al. (2004) confirmed New Zealand wrens as being the sister-taxon to all other passerines. We therefore place them in their own suborder (Acanthisitti). See Christidis & Boles (2008) and Cracraft (2014) for reviews of higher-level systematics of passerine birds.
Suborder ACANTHISITTI: New Zealand Wrens
Family ACANTHISITTIDAE Sundevall: New Zealand Wrens
Acanthisittinae Sundevall, 1872: Methodi Naturalis Avium Tentamen 1: 47 – Type genus Acanthisitta Lafresnaye, 1842.
Order of species follows Checklist Committee (2010), with Dendroscansor placed last in the sequence as it seems to be a highly modified form.
Genus Acanthisitta Lafresnaye
Acanthisitta Lafresnaye, 1842: Mag. Zool., Paris (ser. 2) 4: 1, pl. 27 – Type species (by monotypy) Acanthiza tenuirostris Lafresnaye = Acanthisitta chloris chloris (Sparrman).
Acanthidositta Buller, 1888 (Jan): History of the Birds of N.Z., 2nd edition 1 (part 3): 113. Unjustified emendation.
Chlorisitta Mathews, 1935: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 55: 113 – Type species (by original designation) Sitta chloris Sparrman = Acanthisitta chloris chloris (Sparrman).
➤ Acanthisitta chloris (Sparrman)
Rifleman | Tītitipounamu
New Zealand. Originally occurred widely in North and South Islands, Stewart Island / Rakiura, and outliers. Range reduced following settlement mainly to residual forests, although (unlike Xenicus spp.) capable of adapting to exotic vegetation and occurs widely in commercial pine plantations. Occurs in Nothofagus forests of mountainous areas of both main islands.
Acanthisitta chloris granti Mathews & Iredale
North Island Rifleman
Acanthisitta chloris granti Mathews & Iredale, 1913: Ibis 1 (10th series): 432 – North Island.
Chlorisitta chloris granti (Mathews & Iredale); Mathews 1935, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 55: 113.
North Island, and Hauturu / Little Barrier Islands. Widespread in forests of central and southern North Island, but signs of a recent range reduction in the west (C. Robertson et al. 2007). In Northland restricted to a small relict population at Warawara Forest, north of Hokianga Harbour (Pierce 1994). Bones in Holocene deposits have been found at Cape Reinga, Waitomo, and Hawke’s Bay (Checklist Committee 1990; B. Gill 1996b; Worthy & Holdaway 2002).
Acanthisitta chloris chloris (Sparrman)
South Island Rifleman
Sitta Chloris Sparrman, 1787: Mus. Carlsonianum 2: no XXXIII, pl. 33 – “Cape of Good Hope”, error for Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough (fide Oliver 1955, New Zealand Birds, 2nd edition: 449).
Motacilla citrina Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(2): 979. Based on the “Citrine Warbler” of Latham 1783, Gen. Synop. Birds 2: 464 – “Nova Seelandia”, restricted to Dusky Sound, Fiordland (fide Oliver 1955, New Zealand Birds, 2nd edition: 451).
Sylvia citrina (Gmelin); Latham 1790, Index Ornith. 2: 529.
Sitta punctata Quoy & Gaimard, 1830: in Dumont d’Urville, Voyage Astrolabe Zool. 1: 221 – Tasman Bay.
Acanthisitta punctata (Quoy & Gaimard); G.R. Gray 1841, List Gen. Birds (2nd edition) Appendix: 6.
Acanthiza tenuirostris Lafresnaye, 1841: Rev. de Zool., Paris 4: 242 – New Zealand.
Acanthisitta citrina (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1841, List Gen. Birds (2nd edition) Appendix: 6.
Acanthisitta tenuirostris (Lafresnaye); Lafresnaye 1842, Mag. Zool., Paris (ser. 2) 4: 1, pl. 27.
Motacilla citrinella J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 89 – South Island.
Acanthisitta chloris (Sparrman); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 219.
Acanthidositta chloris (Sparrman); Buller 1888 (Jan.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 2nd edition 1 (part 3): 113.
Acanthidositta citrina (Gmelin); Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 103.
Acanthisitta chloris chloris (Sparrman); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 431.
Chlorisitta chloris chloris (Sparrman); Mathews 1935, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 55: 113.
Acanthisitta chloris citrina (Gmelin); Oliver 1955, New Zealand Birds, 2nd edition: 451.
Widespread from Nelson and Marlborough to Fiordland; also Codfish Island / Whenua Hou (from where introduced to Ulva Island; Leech et al. 2007). Formerly Stewart Island / Rakiura (now locally extinct; Harper 2009). Holocene remains have been found in cave sites in north-west Nelson, Punakaiki, and North Canterbury (e.g. Worthy 1993a; Worthy & Holdaway 1995).
Genus Xenicus G.R. Gray
Xenicus G.R. Gray, 1855: Cat. Genera Subgenera Birds: 31 – Type species (by original designation) Motacilla longipes Gmelin = Xenicus longipes longipes (Gmelin).
Xenicornis Mathews & Iredale, 1926: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 46: 76 – Type species (by original designation) Xenicus gilviventris Von Pelzeln.
Pachyplichas Millener, 1988: Journ. Royal Soc. N.Z. 18(4): 387 – Type species (by original designation) Pachyplichas yaldwyni Millener.
A molecular review of the relationships of New Zealand wrens has shown that stout-legged wrens (Pachyplichas sp.) are more closely related to the rock wren (Xenicus gilviventris) than either is to the bush wren (X. longipes). Therefore Pachyplichas Millener, 1988 should be synonymised with Xenicus, so that Pachyplichas jagmi and P. yaldwyni become Xenicus jagmi and X. yaldwyni respectively (Mitchell et al. 2016).
➤ †Xenicus longipes (Gmelin)
Bush Wren | Mātuhituhi
Extinct. New Zealand. Formerly North Island, South Island, and Stewart Island / Rakiura and its outliers. Last reliable sighting 1972 on Kaimohu Island off Stewart Island / Rakiura, following transfer of birds to that island (Merton 2004).
†Xenicus longipes stokesii G.R. Gray
North Island Bush Wren | Matuhitui
Xenicus stokesii G.R. Gray, 1862: Ibis 4: 219 – “Rima-Taka” = Rimutaka [Remutaka] Hills (fide Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 434).
Xenicus Stokesii G.R. Gray; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 72.
Xenicus stokesi G.R. Gray; Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 107. Unjustified emendation.
Xenicus longipes stokesii G.R. Gray; Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 434.
Xenicus longipes stokesi G.R. Gray; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 58. Unjustified emendation.
Possible sightings on Kapiti Island, 1911 (Miskelly 2003b); near Wellington, 1918 (Stidolph 1926); and at Lake Waikaremoana, 1949 (Edgar 1949) and 1955 (St Paul 1977). Only three museum specimens (skins) known; two from Remutaka Range, 1850, and one from Taupo (Fisher 1981). Holocene bones from cave and dune sites (Checklist Committee 1990) show that the species was formerly widely distributed in the North Island.
†Xenicus longipes longipes (Gmelin)
South Island Bush Wren | Mātuhituhi
Motacilla longipes Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(2): 979. Based on the “Long-legged Warbler” of Latham 1783, Gen. Synop. Birds 2: 465 – “Nova Seelandia”, restricted to Dusky Sound, Fiordland (fide Oliver 1955, New Zealand Birds, 2nd edition: 453).
Sylvia longipes (Gmelin); Latham 1790, Index Ornith. 2: 529.
Acanthisitta longipes (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1841, List Gen. Birds (2nd edition) Appendix: 6.
Motacilla longipes J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 88 – South Island. Junior primary homonym of Motacilla longipes Gmelin, 1789.
Xenicus longipes (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 218.
Zenicus longipes (Gmelin); Travers 1883, Trans. Proc. N.Z. Inst. 15: 186. Unjustified emendation.
Xenicus longipes longipes (Gmelin); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 434.
Formerly widespread, especially in forests of mountainous areas. Possible sightings near Lake Hauroko, Southland, 1947 (Dunckley & Todd 1949), and in Nelson Lakes National Park, 1968 (Creswell 1968). Bones found in cave deposits (Checklist Committee 1990).
†Xenicus longipes variabilis Stead
Stead’s Bush Wren
Xenicus longipes variabilis Stead, 1936: Trans. Proc. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 66: 313 – Islands south-west of Stewart Island.
Xenicornis longipes steadi Mathews, 1944: Emu 43: 245 – Solomon Island, off Stewart Island.
Formerly on Stewart Island / Rakiura (presumably this subspecies) and outlying islands to the south-west of there. The last natural population became extinct in 1965 after ship rats Rattus rattus reached Taukihepa / Big South Cape Island (B. Bell 1978; E. Bell et al. 2016). Birds transferred to nearby Kaimohu Island were last seen in 1972 (Merton 2004). Possible sightings on Stewart Island / Rakiura, 1950 (Tily 1951) and 1951 (Dawson 1951b).
➤ Xenicus gilviventris Von Pelzeln
Rock Wren | Pīwauwau
Xenicus gilviventris Von Pelzeln, 1867: Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien 17: 316 – New Zealand, restricted to headwaters of the Rakaia River, South Island (fide Verry et al. 2019, Frontiers Ecol. Evol. 7(496): 6).
Xenicus haasti Buller, 1869: Ibis 5 (new series): 37 – “Otago” = headwaters of the Rakaia River, South Island (fide Verry et al. 2019, Frontiers Ecol. Evol. 7(496): 6).
Acanthisitta gilviventris (Von Pelzeln); G.R. Gray 1869, Hand-list Birds 1: 183.
Acanthisitta haastii (Buller); G.R. Gray 1869, Hand-list Birds 1: 183. Unjustified emendation.
Xenicus Haastii Buller; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 72. Unjustified emendation.
Xenicus haastii Buller; Hutton 1871, Cat. Birds N.Z.: 72. Unjustified emendation.
Zenicus gilviventris (Von Pelzeln); Travers 1883, Trans. Proc. N.Z. Inst. 15: 187. Unjustified emendation.
Xenicornis longipes gilviventris (Von Pelzeln); Mathews 1944, Emu 43: 245.
Xenicus gilviventris rineyi Falla, 1953: Notornis 5: 142 – Lake McArthur, south-western Fiordland.
Xenicus gilviventris Von Pelzeln; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 193.
Currently and historically restricted to South Island alpine and subalpine areas (Nelson to western Southland). Known from Holocene remains from caves in both North and South Islands (Millener 1990) although the North Island bones may have been incorrectly identified (Worthy & Holdaway 2002: 425). This theory was backed by the discovery that the only North Island skin was a mislabelled South Island bird (Verry et al. 2019). Bones especially common in certain north-west Nelson caves (e.g. Honeycomb Hill, Oparara). Resident in subalpine fellfields and, in Fiordland, at lower altitudes. Locally common in a few well-known areas, but in need of further management (K.-J. Wilson 2005). The name “rock wren” is also used for a North American species (Salpinctes obsoletus, Troglodytinae).
➤ †Xenicus jagmi (Millener)
North Island Stout-legged Wren
Pachyplichas jagmi Millener, 1988: Journ. Royal Soc. N.Z. 18(4): 395 – Ruakuri Cave, Waitomo, Waikato.
Xenicus jagmi (Millener); Mitchell et al. 2016, Mol. Phyl. Evol. 102: 302.
North Island. Bones found as Holocene remains in dune-sands in the Far North and in predator deposits and cave pitfall deposits in the King Country, Hawke’s Bay, and the Wairarapa (Millener 1988; Checklist Committee 1990).
➤ †Xenicus yaldwyni (Millener)
South Island Stout-legged Wren
Pachyplichas yaldwyni Millener, 1988: Journ. Royal Soc. N.Z. 18(4): 391 – Honeycomb Hill Cave, Oparara, north West Coast.
Xenicus yaldwyni (Millener); Mitchell et al. 2016, Mol. Phyl. Evol. 102: 302.
South Island. Bones found as Holocene remains in predator deposits and cave pitfall deposits in north-west Nelson, Westland, Canterbury, and Southland (Millener 1988). Known from one archaeological site (Worthy 1999b).
Genus †Traversia Rothschild
Traversia Rothschild, 1894: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 4: 10 – Type species (by monotypy and original designation) Traversia lyalli Rothschild.
➤ †Traversia lyalli Rothschild
Lyall’s Wren
Traversia lyalli Rothschild, 1894: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 4: 10 – Stephens Island, Cook Strait.
Xenicus insularis Buller, 1895: Ibis 1 (7th series): 237, pl. 7 – Stephens Island, Cook Strait.
Traversia insularis (Buller); A. Hamilton 1909, Hand-list Birds New Zealand: 14.
Xenicus lyalli (Rothschild); Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 64.
Traversia lyalli Rothschild; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 194.
Formerly North and South Islands, and Stephens Island / Takapourewa, Cook Strait. Small relict population discovered on Stephens Island in 1894 quickly died out, probably due to predation from several feral cats, rather than, as suggested in most accounts, destruction by one lighthouse keeper’s cat (Galbreath & Brown 2004). Holocene bones from accumulations of laughing owl food remains, and other sites, on both main islands, show that Stephens Island birds were a relict of a formerly more widespread species. Traditionally called “Stephens Island wren”, but this name is clearly inappropriate and we follow others (e.g. Worthy & Holdaway 2002) in using “Lyall’s wren”.
Genus †Dendroscansor Millener & Worthy
Dendroscansor Millener & Worthy, 1991: Journ. Royal Soc. N.Z. 21(2): 181 – Type species (by monotypy and original designation) Dendroscansor decurvirostris Millener & Worthy.
➤ †Dendroscansor decurvirostris Millener & Worthy
Long-billed Wren | Manu Paea
Dendroscansor decurvirostris Millener & Worthy, 1991: Journ. Royal Soc. N.Z. 21(2): 182 – Moonsilver Cave, Takaka State Forest, north-west Nelson.
South Island. Extinct in late Holocene. The rarest species in the late Quaternary avifauna (Worthy & Holdaway 2002). Bones have been found at four Holocene deposits only (caves in north-west Nelson and Southland) and belong to fewer than six individuals in total. Apparently restricted to high-altitude habitats, and absent from lowlands of the eastern South Island.
Suborder PASSERES (or POLYMYODI): Oscines (Songbirds)
The arrangement of songbirds in the 1970 Checklist (Checklist Committee 1970) was based on the premise that the species endemic to the Australasian region were derived directly from Eurasian groups and belonged in Old World families (e.g. Gerygone and Petroica in Muscicapidae). The 1990 Checklist (Checklist Committee 1990) followed the Australian lead in allocating various native songbirds to their own Australasian families (e.g. Gerygone to Acanthizidae, and Petroica to Eopsaltriidae), but the sequence was still based largely on the old Peters-Mayr arrangement. Since the late 1980s, evidence from molecular biology has shown that most of the Australian and New Zealand endemic songbirds are the product of a major Australasian radiation parallel to the radiation of songbirds in Eurasia and elsewhere. Many superficial morphological and ecological similarities between Australasian and Eurasian songbirds are the result of convergent evolution.
Sibley & Ahlquist (1985, 1990) and Sibley et al. (1988) recognised a division of the songbirds into two groups which they called Corvida and Passerida (Sibley & Ahlquist 1990). The parvorder Corvida contained songbirds with Australasian affinities – nearly all the endemic New Zealand songbirds plus the introduced Australian magpie. The parvorder Passerida contained songbirds with Old World affinities – nearly all the songbirds introduced to New Zealand, plus a few native songbirds (e.g. Poodytes, Hirundo, Zosterops).
Subsequent studies (e.g. F. Barker et al. 2004; Cracraft et al. 2004) partly supported the distinction between Corvida and Passerida, but questioned the monophyly of the Corvida. Passerida is now thought not to be the sister group to Corvida but to be embedded within it (see detailed discussion by Christidis & Boles 2008) with Petroica added to the list of native Australasian passeridans. The following arrangement of New Zealand songbirds is based largely on the sequences presented by Dickinson & Christidis (2014), Clements et al. (2019), Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International (2020), Fjeldså et al. (2020), and F. Gill et al. (2021).
Eradication or control of mammalian predators on islands, or in defined mainland areas, mean that some of the New Zealand endemic songbirds are being translocated (re-introduced) to growing lists of localities at which predators are absent or controlled to low densities. This is extending the ranges of the species concerned – ranges that were shrinking. Many of the more recent transfers are not mentioned in the species accounts because several years must pass before the viability of a given translocation can be assured. A summary of translocations up to 2012 was provided by Miskelly & Powlesland (2013).
“CORVIDA”: Australasian Songbirds
Corvida is not a monophyletic grouping and may be split further. Meanwhile, it is convenient to distinguish the songbirds of Australasian origin and affinity from those (Passerida) that derive from groups with immediate ancestry elsewhere. The three endemic families of New Zealand oscines – New Zealand wattlebirds (Callaeidae), stitchbird (Notiomystidae) and New Zealand creepers (Mohouidae) – have presumably all had long evolutionary histories in New Zealand, with relatively early divergence from other corvidan lineages.
Family MELIPHAGIDAE Swainson: Honeyeaters
Meliphagidae Swainson, 1825: Zoological Journ. 1: 463 – Type genus Meliphaga Lewin, 1808.
The hihi, Notiomystis cincta, long considered to be a honeyeater (e.g. Checklist Committee 1953, 1970, 1990), has been shown by molecular studies not to be a honeyeater at all and has been removed to its own family, sister to Callaeidae (Ewen et al. 2006; Driskell et al. 2007). Otherwise, the sequence of honeyeaters (below) follows Checklist Committee (1990). Molecular work by Driskell et al. (2007) estimated the divergence between Anthornis and Prosthemadera at 2.9 Ma.
Genus Anthornis G.R. Gray
Anthomiza Swainson, 1837: Classification of Birds 2: 326 – Type species (by monotypy) Anthomiza caeruleocephala Swainson, 1837 = Anthornis melanura melanura (Sparrman). Nomen oblitum (fide Scofield et al. 2005, Notornis 52: 171).
Anthomyza G.R. Gray, 1840: List Gen. Birds (1st edition): 15. Unjustified emendation of Anthomiza Swainson, 1837 and junior homonym of Anthomyza Fallén, 1810.
Anthornis G.R. Gray, 1840: List Gen. Birds (1st edition): 15. Unnecessary nomen novum for Anthomiza Swainson, not junior homonym of Anthomyza Fallén, 1810. Nomen protectum (fide Scofield et al. 2005, Notornis 52: 171).
Bartle & Sagar (1987) regarded the Chatham Island bellbird as a “strong” subspecies with “overall similarity” to the mainland form. Holdaway et al. (2001) listed A. melanocephala as a separate species, citing differences that were outlined by Oliver (1955) and Bartle & Sagar (1987), and we follow that arrangement.
➤ Anthornis melanura (Sparrman)
Bellbird | Korimako
New Zealand. North and South Islands, Stewart Island / Rakiura, and many mainland offshore islands including Manawatāwhi / Three Kings; also Auckland Islands / Maukahuka.
Anthornis melanura obscura Falla
Three Kings Bellbird
Anthornis melanura obscura Falla, 1948: Rec. Auck. Inst. Museum 3: 337 – Three Kings Islands.
Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands: in forest and scrub, throughout the group.
Anthornis melanura oneho Bartle & Sagar
Poor Knights Bellbird
Anthornis melanura oneho Bartle & Sagar, 1987: Notornis 34(4): 297 – Poor Knights Islands.
Poor Knights Islands: throughout the group.
Anthornis melanura melanura (Sparrman)
Bellbird
Certhia melanura Sparrman, 1786: Mus. Carlsonianum 1: no V, pl. 5 – “Promontorium Bonae Spei”, error for Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough (fide Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 446).
Certhia sannio Gmelin, 1788: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(l): 471. Based on the “Mocking Creeper” of Latham 1783, Gen. Synop. Birds 2: 735 – New Zealand.
Philedon dumerilii Lesson & Garnot, 1828: in L.I. Duperrey, Voy. Coquille, Zool. 1 Atlas (6): pl. 21, fig. 1 – New Zealand, restricted to Bay of Islands (fide Bartle & Sagar 1987, Notornis 34(4): 260).
Anthomiza caeruleocephala Swainson, 1837: Classification of Birds 2: 327 – New Zealand. Unnecessary nomen novum for Certhia melanura Sparrman, 1786.
Philedon sannio (Gmelin); Lesson 1838, Compléments Oeuvres Buffon 11: 165.
Anthornis melanura (Sparrman); G.R. Gray 1840, List Gen. Birds (1st edition): 15.
Certhia olivacea J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 79 – New Zealand.
Anthornis melanura Ellman, 1861: Zoologist 19: 7466 – New Zealand. Junior secondary homonym of Certhia melanura Sparrman, 1786.
Anthornis ruficeps Von Pelzeln, 1867: Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien 17: 316 – New Zealand.
Anthornis incoronata Bangs, 1911: Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 24: 23 – Auckland Islands.
Anthornis melanura melanura (Sparrman); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 446.
Anthornis melanura dumerilii (Lesson) [sic]; Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 447.
Anthornis melanura incoronata Bangs; Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 447.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island / Rakiura, and many offshore islands: present and often common throughout, excepting Northland, Waikato, southern Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu, Canterbury Plains, and Central Otago. Formerly abundant in Auckland and Northland but became locally extinct in these areas in the 1860s (see Lee 2005). In Northland, may occur on the mainland as a stray opposite the offshore islands (e.g. at Whangaparaoa Peninsula near Tiritiri Matangi Island), and has recently colonised Tawharanui Peninsula (Brunton et al. 2008). Found in forest and forest remnants; also in exotic vegetation of orchards, gardens, etc., especially in the South Island; also in large exotic plantations. On the Auckland Islands / Maukahuka, in forest throughout, apart from Disappointment Island (Miskelly, Elliott et al. 2020). Recorded at Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku in 2003 and 2004 (Scofield 2005a, 2006). Holocene bones and midden records from widely scattered sites in North, South, and Auckland Islands / Maukahuka (Checklist Committee 1990; Tennyson 2020a).
➤ †Anthornis melanocephala G.R. Gray
Chatham Island Bellbird
Anthornis melanocephala G.R. Gray, 1843: in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 188 – Chatham Islands.
Anthornis auriocula Buller, 1865: Essay N.Z. Ornith.: 8 – Chatham Islands.
Anthornis melanura melanocephala G.R. Gray; Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 447.
Anthornis melanocephala G.R. Gray; Holdaway et al. 2001, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 28(2): 138, 180.
Extinct since about 1906. Formerly throughout the Chatham Islands; last recorded on Little Mangere Island (Tennyson & Martinson 2007). Holocene bones from deposits on Chatham and Mangere Islands (Tennyson & Millener 1994; Millener 1999).
Genus Prosthemadera G.R. Gray
Prosthemadera G.R. Gray, 1840: List Gen. Birds (1st edition): 15 – Type species (by original designation) Merops cincinnatus Latham = Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae (Gmelin).
➤ Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae (Gmelin)
Tūī | Tui
New Zealand: North, South, Stewart Island / Rakiura, Kermadec / Rangitāhua, Chatham, and Auckland / Maukahuka Islands. Further study may show that the Chatham Island form is a separate species (Holdaway et al. 2001).
Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae (Gmelin)
Tūī | Tui
Merops novae Seelandiae Gmelin, 1788: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(1): 464. Based on the “Poë Bee-eater” of Latham 1782, Gen. Synop. Birds 2: 682 – “Nova Seelandia”, restricted to Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough (fide Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 447).
Merops cincinnatus Latham, 1790: Index Ornith. 1: 275 – New Zealand.
Sturnus crispicollis Daudin, 1800: Traité Elém. Compl. Ornith. 2: 314.
Philemon cincinnatus (Latham); Bonnaterre & Vieillot 1822, Tableaux Encycl. Méthod. Ornith. 2(91): 613.
Meliphaga novaehollandiae Stephens, 1826: in G. Shaw, General Zool. 14: 259 – New Zealand.
Prosthemadera concinnata G.R. Gray, 1840: List Gen. Birds (1st edition): 15 – New Zealand.
Prosthemadera novae seelandiae (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1841, List Gen. Birds (2nd edition): 20.
Prosthemadera Novae Seelandiae (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1843, in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 187.
Certhia cincinnata J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 78 – New Zealand. Junior secondary homonym of Merops cincinnatus Latham, 1790.
Prosthemadera circinata Reichenbach, 1852: Handb. Orn. Merop.: 127, pl. 492, fig. 3466 – no locality.
Meliphaga Novae-Zealandiae (Gmelin); Ellman 1861, Zoologist 19: 7466. Unjustified emendation.
Lamprotornis Novae-Zealandiae (Gmelin); Schlegel 1868, Jaarboek. K. Zool. Genootschap ‘Nat. Art. Mag.’: plate. Unjustified emendation.
Prosthemadera Novae-Zealandiae (Gmelin); Finsch 1870, Journ. für Ornith. 18: 248. Unjustified emendation.
Prosthemadera Novae Zelandiae Gmelin [sic]; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 72. Unjustified emendation.
Melliphaga circinata; Schlegel 1872, De Dierentuin: 125.
Prosthemadera novae-zealandiae (Gmelin); Travers 1883, Trans. Proc. N.Z. Inst. 15: 186. Unjustified emendation.
Prosthemadera novae zealandiae (Gmelin); Buller 1888 (Jan.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 2nd edition 1 (part 3): 94. Unjustified emendation.
Prosthemadera novae-seelandiae phoebe Kemp, 1912: Austral Avian Rec. 1: 124 – Umawera, Hokianga.
Prosthemadera novae-seelandiae kwini Kemp, 1912: Austral Avian Rec. 1: 124 – Auckland Islands.
Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae kermadecensis Mathews & Iredale, 1914: Austral Avian Rec. 2: 113 – Sunday [= Raoul] Island, Kermadec Islands.
Prosthemadera novae-seelandiae (Gmelin); Mathews 1930, Emu 29: 286.
Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae (Gmelin); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 64.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island / Rakiura, and larger offshore islands; also Kermadec / Rangitāhua and Auckland Islands / Maukahuka. Recorded at Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands in 1887 (Cheeseman 1888a) but not subsequently (Turbott & Buddle 1948). One record from Snares Islands / Tini Heke (Warham 1967). Present through most of North Island, and over about half the South Island, being patchy in the east between Picton and Dunedin (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Widespread in forest and forest remnants. Present and breeding in some settled districts, including urban areas (e.g. greater Auckland, and Wellington), but mainly an occasional visitor in larger exotic plantations. In Holocene deposits and middens, abundant in both North and South Islands, including eastern South Island where rare today (Checklist Committee 1990; Worthy & Holdaway 2002). One Holocene bone found on Enderby Island, Auckland Islands / Maukahuka (Tennyson 2020a).
Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae chathamensis Hartert
Chatham Island Tui | Kōkō
Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae chathamensis Hartert, 1928: Novit. Zool. 34(3): 204 – Chatham Islands.
Chatham Islands: in moderate numbers on Pitt Island, common on Rangatira and Mangere Islands, and a visitor to Star Keys. Successfully reintroduced to Chatham Island in 2009–10 (M. Bell et al. 2013). Holocene deposits and middens on Chatham Island (Millener 1990, 1999).
Genus Anthochaera Vigors & Horsfield
Creadion Vieillot, 1816: Analyse Nouv. Ornith. Elem.: 34 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Corvus paradoxus Latham [sic] = Anthochaera paradoxa (Daudin). Suppressed and invalid (fide ICZN 2011, Opinion 2284. Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 68(3): 234).
Anthochaera Vigors & Horsfield, 1827: Trans. Linn. Soc. London. 15: 320 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Certhia mellivora Latham = Anthochaera chrysoptera (Latham).
Acanthochaera Giebel, 1872: Thesaurus Ornith. 1: 259. Unjustified emendation.
Dyottornis Mathews, 1912: Austral Avian Rec. 1: 116 – Type species (by original designation) Corvus paradoxus Daudin = Anthochaera paradoxa (Daudin).
Coleia Mathews, 1912: Austral Avian Rec. 1: 116 – Type species (by original designation) Coleia carunculata (Latham) = Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw). Junior homonym of Coleia Broderip, 1837.
Colena Mathews, 1931: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 52: 25. Unnecessary nomen novum for Coleia Mathews, 1912 not Coleia Broderip, 1837.
➤ Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw)
Red Wattlebird
Merops carunculatus Shaw, 1790: in J. White, Journ. Voy. New South Wales, ed. 1: 240 – New South Wales, Australia (fide Mathews 1925, Birds Australia. 12: 64).
Anthochaera carunculata (Latham) [sic]; Vigors & Horsfield 1827, Trans. Linn. Soc. London. 15: 321.
Creadion carunculatus Vieill. [sic]; Lesson 1837, Compléments Oeuvres Buffon 9: 7.
Mimus carunculatus Buller, 1865: Essay N.Z. Ornith.: 10 – extreme north of New Zealand. Junior secondary homonym of Merops carunculatus Shaw, 1790.
Anthochaera Bulleri Finsch, 1867: Journ. für Ornith. 15: 321, 342. Unnecessary nomen novum for Mimus carunculatus Buller, 1865.
Anthochaera carunculata (Latham) [sic]; Buller 1884, Trans. N.Z. Inst. 16: 313.
Acanthochaera carunculata (Latham) [sic]; Buller 1888 (Jan.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 2nd edition 1 (part 3): 106.
Coleia carunculata (Latham) [sic]; Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 448.
Anthochaera carunculata carunculata (White) [sic]; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 65.
Anthochaera carunculata (White) [sic]; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 217.
South-east, southern, and south-west Australia, including coastal Great Australian Bight; moves altitudinally and at least partially migratory between south and north. Two New Zealand records (Buller 1887–88): Matakana, Northland (about 1855); and Rahotu, Taranaki (1882). The first record is particularly doubtful given poor documentation (Galbreath 1989: 89), and a locality “Matakana” in Australia. The specimen was seen by W.L. Buller at Auckland Museum in about 1855 (Galbreath 1989: 89), and is now at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (NMNZ OR.1331). While at Auckland, it was illustrated by Richard Laishley (see fig. 1 of Sibson 1987).
We have retained the red wattlebird in Anthochaera (cf. Creadion) based on the recommendations in ICZN 2011 (Opinion 2284).
Family ACANTHIZIDAE Bonaparte: Australasian Warblers
Acanthizeae Bonaparte, 1854: Ann. Sci. Nat., Zool. Paris, 4th series 1: 119 – Type genus Acanthiza Vigors & Horsfield, 1825.
Christidis & Boles (1994) placed these birds in the Pardalotidae, but we follow Schodde & Mason (1999) and Christidis & Boles (2008) in keeping Acanthizidae as a family separate from the pardalotes.
Genus Gerygone Gould
Psilopus Gould, 1838: Synop. Birds Australia 4: 61 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Psilopus albogularis Gould = Gerygone albogularis (Gould). Junior homonym of Psilopus Poli, 1795.
Gerygone Gould, 1841: in G. Grey, Journ. Two Exped. Discovery Northwest Western Australia 2: 417. Nomen novum for Psilopus Gould, 1838.
Ostiarius Gistel, 1848: Naturg. Thierreichs: x. Unnecessary nomen novum for Psilopus Gould, 1838.
Pseudogerygone Sharpe, 1879: Notes Leyden Mus. 1: 29 – Type species (by original designation) Gerygone personata Gould.
Hapolorhynchus Reichenow, 1908: Journ. für Ornith. 56: 488 – Type species (by original designation) Pseudogerygone albofrontata (G.R. Gray) = Gerygone albofrontata G.R. Gray.
Ethelornis Mathews, 1912: Austral Avian Rec. 1: 110 – Type species (by original designation) Gerygone magnirostris Gould, 1843.
Royigerygone Mathews, 1912: Austral Avian Rec. 1: 110 – Type species (by original designation) Gerygone mathewsae Mathews, 1912 = Gerygone modesta Von Pelzeln, 1860.
Wilsonavis Mathews, 1912: Austral Avian Rec. 1: 110 – Type species (by original designation) Psilopus fusca Gould, 1838 = Gerygone fusca (Gould, 1838).
Maorigerygone Mathews & Iredale, 1913: Ibis 1 (10th series): 437 – Type species (by original designation) Curruca igata Quoy & Gaimard = Gerygone igata (Quoy & Gaimard).
The populations of Gerygone on Norfolk Island (G. modesta von Pelzyn, 1860) and Lord Howe Island (G. insularis Ramsay, 1878, extinct) were regarded as subspecies of G. igata by Meise (1931) and Schodde & Mason (1999), but as separate species by Ford (1986) and Christidis & Boles (2008). We follow the latter arrangement.
➤ Gerygone igata (Quoy & Gaimard)
Grey Warbler | Riroriro
Curruca igata Quoy & Gaimard, 1830: in Dumont d’Urville, Voyage Astrolabe Zool. 1: 201 – Tasman Bay.
Acanthiza igata (Quoy & Gaimard); G.R. Gray 1843, in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 189.
Psilopus ? igata (Quoy & Gaimard); G.R. Gray 1844, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 3.
Psilopus flaviventris G.R. Gray, 1844: in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 3, pl. 4, fig. 1 – Bay of Islands, Northland.
Gerygone igata (Quoy & Gaimard); G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 5.
Gerygone flaviventris (G.R. Gray); G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 5.
Gerygone assimilis Buller, 1865: Essay N.Z. Ornith.: 9 – New Zealand.
Gerygone aucklandica Von Pelzeln, 1865: Reise der Oesterreich. Fregatte Novara Erde, Vögel: 65 – New Zealand.
Acanthiza flaviventris (G.R. Gray); G.R. Gray 1869, Hand-list Birds 1: 219.
Gerygone sylvestris Potts, 1873: Trans. N.Z. Inst. 5: 177 – near Lake Mapourika, Westland.
Pseudogerygone flaviventris (G.R. Gray); Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 117.
Pseudogerygone sylvestris (Potts); Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 119.
Pseudogerygone macleani Ogilvie-Grant, 1907: Ibis 1 (9th series): 545 – Mt Maungahaumi (2,000 feet a.s.l.), north-west of Poverty Bay.
Maorigerygone igata igata (Quoy & Gaimard); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 437.
Maorigerygone igata sylvestris (Potts); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 437.
Maorigerygone igata flaviventris (G.R. Gray); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 438.
Maorigerygone igata macleani (Ogilvie-Grant); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th ser.): 438.
Pseudogerygone igata (Quoy & Gaimard); Oliver 1930, New Zealand Birds, 1st edition: 454.
Gerygone igata (Quoy & Gaimard); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 63.
Gerygone igata igata (Quoy & Gaimard); Schodde & Mason 1999, Directory Australian Birds. Passerines: 182.
New Zealand: common throughout North and South Islands, Stewart Island / Rakiura, and on most offshore islands. The most widely distributed endemic bird on the mainland (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Occurs up to 1,400–1,500 m a.s.l. Vagrant to the Snares Islands / Tini Heke (Miskelly et al. 2001a). Bones are rare in Holocene deposits, but, as with all small birds, this may be because the bones are small and fragile (Millener 1990; Checklist Committee 1990, 2010).
➤ Gerygone albofrontata G.R. Gray
Chatham Island Warbler
Gerygone? albofrontata G.R. Gray, 1845: in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 5, pl. 4, fig. 2 – Chatham Islands.
Acanthiza albofrontata (G.R. Gray); G.R. Gray 1869, Hand-list Birds 1: 219.
Gerygone albofrontata G.R. Gray; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 73.
Pseudogerygone albofrontata (G.R. Gray); Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 119.
Hapolorhynchus albofrontatus (G.R. Gray); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 439.
Gerygone albofrontata G.R. Gray; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 63.
Gerygone (Hapolorhynchus) albofrontata G.R. Gray; Oliver 1955, New Zealand Birds, 2nd edition: 477.
Gerygone albofronta; Scofield & Stephenson 2013, Birds N.Z. Photographic Guide. 1st edition: 443. Misspelling.
Chatham Islands: present on Chatham, Houruakopara, Pitt, Rangatira, Mangere, and Little Mangere Islands, and Star Keys. A few Holocene records from cave, dune, and midden sites on Chatham Island (Checklist Committee 1990).
Family CALLAEIDAE Sundevall: New Zealand Wattlebirds
Callaeadides Sundevall, 1836: Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakad. Handl. 1835: 92 – Type genus Callaeas J.R. Forster, 1788.
Some authors use “Callaeatidae”, but Callaeidae is better established and was recommended by Bock (1994: 219). The relationships of this endemic New Zealand family, and hence its place in the sequence of passerine families, are uncertain, other than for a distant relationship to the hihi (Ewen et al. 2006; Driskell et al. 2007). F. Barker et al. (2004) reported a clade that included Callaeidae, cnemophiline birds-of-paradise, and Melanocharitidae (berrypeckers). Limited support for this was reported by Ewen et al. (2006) and Shepherd & Lambert (2007), while Irestedt & Ohlson (2008) found “reasonable support” for a passeridan affinity of Callaeidae and Cnemophilidae. Whatever the case, as families endemic to New Zealand, both Callaeidae and Notiomystidae are likely to have branched early from their sister taxa. Although incertae sedis, they are placed early in the oscine sequence until their exact position is resolved. The sequence of genera follows Checklist Committee (1990, 2010).
Genus Callaeas J.R. Forster
Callaeas J.R. Forster, 1788 (27 Mar.): Enchiridion: 35 – Type species (by monotypy) “great Wattle bird of N. Zeeland” = Callaeas cinerea (Gmelin).
Glaucopis Gmelin, 1788 (25 Jul.): Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(1): 363 – Type species (by monotypy) Glaucopis cinerea Gmelin = Callaeas cinerea (Gmelin).
Cryptorhina Wagler, 1827: Syst. Avium 1: sign. 814. Nomen novum for Crypsirina Vieillot, 1816. In part.
Calloeas Daudin, 1800: Traité Elém. Compl. Ornith. 1: 410. Unjustified emendation.
Callaeus G.R. Gray, 1840: List Gen. Birds (1st edition): 38. Unjustified emendation.
Two species of kōkako are recognised, reflecting differences in wattle colour, behaviour, and ecology. This follows Oliver (1955) and Holdaway et al. (2001). S. Murphy et al. (2006) confirmed a phylogenetic divergence between North and South Island taxa.
➤ Callaeas wilsoni (Bonaparte)
North Island Kokako | Kōkako
Glaucopis wilsoni Bonaparte, 1851: Consp. Gen. Avium 1: 368 – New Zealand.
Callaeas olivascens Von Pelzeln, 1867: Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien 17: 317 – New Zealand.
Glaucopis olivascens (Von Pelzeln); Finsch 1870, Journ. für Ornith. 18: 324.
Callaeas Wilsoni G.R. Gray [sic]; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 73.
Callaeas wilsoni (Bonaparte); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 452.
Callaeas cinerea wilsoni (Bonaparte); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 68.
At the time of European settlement found in forests of the mid-northern, central, and southern North Island, and on Great Barrier Island / Aotea Island; absent from extensive areas of the eastern North Island. Underwent steady decline apart from at managed sites (Innes et al. 1999, 2013). Still present in native forest in parts of Northland, Hunua Ranges, Bay of Plenty, and Te Urewera; very small remnant populations in west Waikato and north Taranaki. Mainland birds were successfully transferred to Hauturu / Little Barrier Island (1980–88), and two birds remaining in northern Great Barrier Island were moved to Hauturu / Little Barrier Island in 1994. Translocated successfully to Kapiti Island (1991–97); Tiritiri Matangi Island (1997–2010); Mount Bruce, Wairarapa (2003–10); Boundary Stream, Hawke’s Bay (2004–07); Ngapukeariki, East Cape (2005); other translocations underway (Miskelly & Powlesland 2013; Innes et al. 2013). Holocene remains are particularly numerous in deposits, indicating that it was formerly present in many areas (especially coastal) from which it was absent at the time of European settlement. Particularly abundant as bones in Far North sand-dune sites and King Country caves; also from a few middens (Checklist Committee 1990).
➤ †Callaeas cinereus (Gmelin)
South Island Kokako | Kōkā
Glaucopis cinerea Gmelin, 1788: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(1): 363. Based on the “Cinereous Wattle-bird” of Latham 1781, Gen. Synop. Birds 1: 364, pl. 14 – Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough.
Cryptorhina Callaeas Wagler, 1827: Syst. Avium 1: sp. 5 – New Zealand.
Callaeas cinerea (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1843, in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 191.
Callaeas cenerea Gmelin [sic]; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 73. Unjustified emendation.
Callaeas cinerea cinerea (Gmelin); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 68.
Callaeas cinereus (Gmelin); Dickinson & Christidis 2014, Howard & Moore Complete Checklist Birds World, 4th edition, 2: 174.
We follow David & Gosselin (2002b) and Dickinson & Christidis (2014) in regarding Callaeas as masculine, hence the species name should be Callaeas cinereus (contra Checklist Committee 2010). Regarded as extinct. Distribution on European settlement included western forest regions from north-west Nelson to Fiordland; also Banks Peninsula and, probably, large areas of beech forest adjacent to the mountains and subalpine scrub; in forest and scrub on Stewart Island / Rakiura. The last accepted sighting was in the Upper Inangahua Valley in Mar. 2007 (Miskelly et al. 2013), 40 years after the last previous accepted record (McBride 1981). Holocene deposits and midden records from widely distributed sites; one Stewart Island / Rakiura Holocene record (Checklist Committee 1990).
Genus Philesturnus Geoffroy St-Hilaire
Creadion of authors. Not Creadion Vieillot, 1816: Analyse Nouv. Ornith. Elem.: 34 (fide Mathews 1925, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 45: 76).
Philesturnus Geoffroy St-Hilaire, 1832: Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 1: 390 – Type species (by monotypy) Sturnus carunculatus Gmelin = Philesturnus carunculatus (Gmelin).
Philisturus Lesson, 1837: Compléments Oeuvres Buffon 9: 51. Misspelling.
Oxystomus Swainson, 1837: Classification of Birds 2: 270 – Type species (by monotypy) Sturnus carunculatus Gmelin = Philesturnus carunculatus (Gmelin).
We follow Holdaway et al. (2001) in recognising two species of saddleback, reflecting differences in juvenile plumage and skeletal measurements.
➤ Philesturnus rufusater (Lesson)
North Island Saddleback | Tīeke*
icterus [sic] rufusater Lesson, 1828 (Jun.): Manuel d’Ornith. 1: 355 – Bay of Islands, Northland.
Icterus novaezealandiae Lesson & Garnot, 1829 (4 Apr.): in L.I Duperrey, Voy. Coquille, Zool. 1: 415 – Bay of Islands, Northland. Junior secondary homonym of Creadion novaezealandiae Stephens, 1826.
Icterus rufusater Lesson & Garnot, 1829 (4 Apr.): in L.I Duperrey, Voy. Coquille, Zool. 1: pl. 23, fig. 1 – Bay of Islands, Northland. Junior primary homonym of Icterus rufusater Lesson, 1828.
Philesturnus carunculata rufusater (Lesson); Mathews 1944, Emu 43: 246. Unjustified emendation.
Philesturnus carunculatus rufusater (Lesson & Garnot); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 67.
Creadion carunculatus rufusater (Lesson); Amadon in Peters 1962, Check-list Birds World 15: 158.
Philesturnus carunculatus rufusater (Lesson); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 225.
Philesturnus rufusater (Lesson); Holdaway et al. 2001, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 28(2): 138, 180.
Distribution on European settlement included the whole of the North Island; also Great Barrier / Aotea, Hauturu / Little Barrier, Hen and Chickens, and Cuvier / Repanga Islands. By about 1950 it had been reduced to a single population on Hen Island / Taranga Island (Hen and Chickens Group). From there, under the management programme of the Wildlife Service (later, Department of Conservation), beginning in 1964, it has been successfully transferred to: other islands of the Hen and Chickens Group, namely Whatupuke (1964), Lady Alice (1971), and from the former by self-introduction to Coppermine; islands of the Mercury Group, namely Red Mercury / Whakau (1966) and Kawhitu / Stanley (1977); Cuvier Island / Repanga (1968); Kapiti Island (1981–89); Hauturu / Little Barrier Island (1984–88); Tiritiri Matangi Island (1984); and Mokoia Island in Lake Rotorua (1992). There have been many subsequent translocations, including to predator-fenced mainland sites (Miskelly & Powlesland 2013). Unsuccessful transfers to Motukawanui (Cavalli Group) and Fanal Island / Motukino (Mokohinau Group). Holocene records numerous and widely distributed; relatively few midden records (Checklist Committee 1990).
*Also used for South Island saddleback P. carunculatus.
➤ Philesturnus carunculatus (Gmelin)
South Island Saddleback | Tīeke*
Sturnus carunculatus Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(2): 805. Based on the “Wattle Stare” of Latham 1783, Gen. Synop. Birds 3: 9, pl. 36 – Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough.
Creadion pharoides Vieillot, 1817: Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd. 8: 390. Unnecessary nomen novum for Sturnus carunculatus Gmelin, 1789.
Creadion novaezealandiae Stephens, 1826: in G. Shaw, General Zool. 14(1): 265. Unnecessary nomen novum for Sturnus carunculatus Gmelin, 1789.
Xanthornus carunculatus (Gmelin); Quoy & Gaimard 1830, in Dumont d’Urville, Voyage Astrolabe Zool. 1: 212, pl. 12, fig. 4.
Philesturnus carunculatus (Gmelin); Geoffroy St-Hilaire 1832, Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 1: 391.
Oxystomus carunculatus (Gmelin); Swainson 1837, Classification Birds 2: 270.
Sturnus carunculatus J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 81 – South Island. Junior primary homonym of Sturnus carunculatus Gmelin, 1789.
Creadion carunculatus (J.R. Forster) [sic]; G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 8.
Creadion cinereus Buller, 1865: Essay N.Z. Ornith.: 10 – Banks Peninsula.
Creadion cenereus Buller; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 73. Unjustified emendation.
Creadion carunculatus (Gmelin); Buller 1872 (Dec.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 1st edition (part 3): 149.
Creadion (Philestumus [sic]) carunculatus (Gmelin); Mathews 1930, Emu 29: 286. Unjustified emendation.
Philesturnus carunculata carunculata (Gmelin); Mathews 1944, Emu 43: 246. Unjustified emendation.
Philesturnus carunculatus carunculatus (Gmelin); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 67.
Creadion carunculatus carunculatus (Gmelin); Amadon in Peters 1962, Check-list Birds World 15: 158.
Philesturnus carunculatus (Gmelin); Holdaway et al. 2001, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 28(2): 138, 180.
At the time of European settlement found throughout forests of northern, western, and southern South Island; also Banks Peninsula, D’Urville Island, Stephens Island / Takapourewa, Stewart Island / Rakiura, and various outliers. By about 1950 apparently survived only on three of the South Cape Islands (south-west of Stewart Island / Rakiura), but even there the accidental introduction of ship rats (Rattus rattus) in 1963–64 made it necessary to transfer the remaining birds to smaller islands nearby, namely Big (Stage) Island (Boat Group) and Kaimohu Islands. Since then successfully transferred to many other islands in the Stewart Island / Rakiura area, Fiordland, and Marlborough Sounds (Miskelly & Powlesland 2013). Unsuccessful transfers to other Marlborough Sounds islands (Nukuwaiata, Maud, Allports) and Fiordland islands (Bauza, Erin) (Miskelly & Powlesland 2013). Numerous in Holocene deposits, and a few midden records (Checklist Committee 1990).]
*Also used for North Island saddleback P. rufusater.
Genus †Heteralocha Cabanis
Neomorpha Gould, 1837: Synop. Birds Australia 1: pl. 11 & text – Type species (by monotypy) Neomorpha acutirostris Gould = Heteralocha acutirostris Gould. Suppressed and invalid (fide ICZN 1958, Opinion 514. Opinions & Declarations 18(18): 305).
Heteralocha Cabanis, 1851: Mus. Heineanum 1: 218 – Type species (by original designation) Heteralocha Gouldi G.R. Gray = Heteralocha acutirostris Gould. Name placed in the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology (fide ICZN 1958, Opinion 514. Opinions & Declarations 18(18): 305).
➤ †Heteralocha acutirostris (Gould)
Huia
Neomorpha acutirostris Gould, 1837: Synop. Birds Australia 1: pl. 11 & text – North Island.
Neomorpha crassirostris Gould, 1837: Synop. Birds Australia 1: pl. 11 & text – North Island.
Neomorpha Gouldii G.R. Gray, 1841: List Gen. Birds (2nd edition): 15. Unnecessary nomen novum for Neomorpha acutirostris Gould, 1837.
Heteralocha Gouldi (G.R. Gray); Cabanis 1851, Mus. Heineanum 1: 218. Unjustified emendation.
Heteralocha gouldi (G.R. Gray); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 217. Unjustified emendation.
Heteralocha acutirostris (Gould); Buller 1872 (Apr.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 1st edition (part 1): 63.
Heteralocha auctirostris (Gould); Enys 1876, Trans. Proc. N.Z. Inst. 8: 204. Misspelling.
New Zealand. Recorded historically only from forests of the eastern and southern North Island (Raukumara Range and Turakina River south to Wellington) but, as indicated by Holocene bone remains, range probably included the whole of the North Island. Last generally accepted record 1907, but quite credible reports to mid-1920s (Tennyson & Martinson 2007: 126, 157). Recorded from Holocene cave and dune localities from North Cape (Otou) to the southern tip of the North Island (Checklist Committee 1990). Rarer than expected at inland cave sites; also from sand-dune midden sites (Checklist Committee 1990).
Family NOTIOMYSTIDAE Driskell, Christidis, Gill, Boles, Barker & Longmore: Hihi
Notiomystidae Driskell, Christidis, Gill, Boles, Barker & Longmore, 2007: Australian Journ. Zool. 55: 76 – Type genus Notiomystis Richmond, 1908.
Preliminary DNA studies by Driskell (2001) suggested that the hihi is not a honeyeater, and this was confirmed with further samples (Ewen et al. 2006; Driskell et al. 2007). Molecular studies by Ewen et al. (2006) found a close relationship between the hihi and the single callaeid in their study (Callaeas); Driskell et al. (2007) found a similar relationship between hihi and Philesturnus. The divergence between Notiomystis and Philesturnus was estimated at 33.8 Ma (Oligocene) by Driskell et al. (2007) who placed the hihi in a new endemic family.
Genus Notiomystis Richmond
Pogonornis G.R. Gray, 1846: Gen. Birds 1: 123 – Type species (by monotypy) Meliphaga cincta du Bus de Gisignies = Notiomystis cincta (du Bus de Gisignies). Junior homonym of Pogonornis Billberg, 1828.
Notiomystis Richmond, 1908: Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 35: 634. Nomen novum for Pogonornis G.R. Gray, 1846.
Notiomystes Mathews, 1935: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 55: 159. Unjustified emendation.
➤ Notiomystis cincta (du Bus de Gisignies)
Hihi | Stitchbird
Meliphaga cincta du Bus de Gisignies, 1839: Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 6(4): 295, & plate – New Zealand, restricted to North Island (fide Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 64).
Ptilotis auritus Lafresnaye, 1839: Rev. de Zool., Paris 2: 257 – New Zealand, restricted to North Island (fide Mathews 1935, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 55: 159 (as auritris [sic])).
Ptilotis cincta (du Bus de Gisignies); G.R. Gray 1843, in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 187.
Pogonornis cincta (du Bus de Gisignies); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 218.
Notiomystes cincta hautura Mathews, 1935: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 55: 159 – Little Barrier Island.
[Notiomystes] cincta cincta (du Bus); Mathews 1935, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 55: 159.
[Notiomystes] auritris [sic] Lafresnaye, 1839; Mathews 1935, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 55: 159.
Notiomystis cincta (du Bus de Gisignies); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 64.
New Zealand: recorded only from the North Island. Up to the early 1870s said to have been comparatively common in southern parts of the North Island (as far north as the Waikato area), as well as on Hauturu / Little Barrier, Great Barrier / Aotea, and Kapiti Islands; a rapid decline followed and by 1885 the species had vanished from the mainland, Great Barrier, and Kapiti Islands, remaining only on Hauturu / Little Barrier Island. Holocene records from Far North sand-dune sites indicate that its original distribution included the whole of the North Island; also known from Holocene deposits in the King Country and Hawke’s Bay (Checklist Committee 1990). Successful translocations to Kapiti Island (1990–2002), Tiritiri Matangi Island (1995–96), Zealandia / Karori Sanctuary (Wellington, 2005–10), and Maungatautari (Waikato, 2009–11) have required artificial nest-boxes and supplemental feeding (Miskelly & Powlesland 2013). Translocations to Cuvier / Repanga, Hen / Taranga and Mokoia Islands (the latter in Lake Rotorua), and Waitakere Ranges were unsuccessful (Miskelly & Powlesland 2013). Success of more recent transfers to several other predator-fenced sites not yet known. Angehr (2011) designated a lectotype for Notiomystis cincta hautura Mathews, 1935.
Family MOHOUIDAE Mathews: New Zealand Creepers
Mohouinae Mathews, 1946: Working List Austr. Birds: 173 – Type genus Mohoua Lesson, 1835.
Checklist Committee (2010) placed the three species in the genus Mohoua Lesson, 1837, in the subfamily Mohouinae Mathews, 1946, as a subfamily of Pachycephalidae. Several more recent genetic studies have found Mohoua to be basal in core Corvoidea (e.g. Aggerbeck et al. 2013; Aidala et al. 2013; Gibb et al. 2015), therefore placing them outside Pachycephalidae. We follow the recommendation of Aidala et al. (2013) who confirmed, using both nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data, the monophyly of the genus, and recommended its placement in the endemic family Mohouidae. Use of Mohouidae was followed by Dickinson & Christidis (2014: 174), who we follow in placing Mohouidae immediately after Notiomystidae (which follows Callaeidae). The common name used for the subfamily Mohouinae by Checklist Committee (2010) was “Whitehead and Allies” but we recommend using “New Zealand creepers”, recognising that one of the three species is the brown creeper (Mohoua novaeseelandiae).
The sequence of species follows Checklist Committee (1990). The endemic genus Finschia (for the brown creeper) was synonymised with Mohoua by Sibley & Ahlquist (1987).
Genus Mohoua Lesson
Mohoua Lesson, 1837: Compléments Oeuvres Buffon 9: 139 – Type species (by monotypy) Certhia heteroclites Quoy & Gaimard = Mohoua ochrocephala (Gmelin).
Mohua Lesson, 1840: Revue Zool.: 268. Unjustified emendation.
Certhiparus Lafresnaye, 1842: Rev. de Zool., Paris 5: 69 – Type species (by original designation) Parus senilis du Bus de Gisignies = Mohoua albicilla (Lesson).
Clitonyx Reichenbach, 1849: Avium Syst. Nat. pl. 38 – Type species (by original designation) Muscicapa ochrocephala Gmelin = Mohoua ochrocephala (Gmelin).
Phyllodytes Finsch, 1873: Journ. für Ornith. 21 (series 4): 397 – Type species (by original designation) Parus novaeseelandiae Gmelin = Mohoua novaeseelandiae (Gmelin). Junior homonym of Phyllodytes Wagler, 1830.
Finschia Hutton, 1903: Ibis 3 (8th series): 319. Unnecessary nomen novum for Phyllodytes Finsch, 1873.
➤ Mohoua albicilla (Lesson)
Whitehead | Pōpokotea
Fringilla albicilla Lesson, 1830: in L.I. Duperrey, Voy. Coquille, Zool. Atlas 1(15): 662 – Bay of Islands, Northland.
Parus senilis du Bus de Gisignies, 1839: Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 6(4): 297 – Bay of Islands, Northland.
Certhiparus senilis (du Bus de Gisignies); Lafresnaye 1842, Rev. de Zool., Paris 5: 69.
Certhiparus albicillus (Lesson); G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 6, pl. 5, fig. 2.
Certhiparus cinerea Ellman, 1861: Zoologist 19: 7465 – New Zealand.
Mohoua ? albicilla (Lesson); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 220.
Mohoua albicilla Lesson [sic]; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 72.
Orthonyx (Mohoua) albicillus (Lesson); Potts 1871, Trans. N.Z. Inst. 3: 74.
Phyllodytes albicilla Lesson; Finsch 1873, Journ. für Ornith. 21 (series 4): 398.
Orthonyx albicilla (Lesson); Buller 1872 (Jun.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 1st edition (part 2): 101.
Clitonyx albicapilla (Lesson); Buller 1887 (Oct.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 2nd edition 1 (part 2): 53. Unjustified emendation.
Certhiparus albicilla [sic] (Lesson); Hutton 1903, Ibis 3 (8th series): 319.
Certhiparus albicillus (Lesson); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 443.
Certhiparus albicilla hautura Mathews, 1935: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 55: 160 – Little Barrier Island.
Certhiparus albicilla albicilla (Lesson); Mathews, 1935, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 55: 160.
Mohoua ochrocephala albicilla (Lesson); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 62.
Mohoua albicilla (Lesson); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 204.
North Island only: largely restricted to central and southern forested areas plus Hauturu / Little Barrier and Kapiti Islands. Successfully transferred from Hauturu / Little Barrier to Tiritiri Matangi Island (1989), with numerous subsequent translocations to other islands and predator-fenced mainland sites (Miskelly & Powlesland 2013). Has colonised exotic pine forests in central North Island. Extinct on Rakitu Island (Arid Island), east of Great Barrier Island / Aotea, where last seen in 1957 (Bellingham et al. 1982). Holocene records from cave, predator, and dune sites throughout North Island (Checklist Committee 1990).
➤ Mohoua ochrocephala (Gmelin)
Mohua | Yellowhead
Muscicapa ochrocephala Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(2): 944. Based on the “Yellowheaded Flycatcher” of Latham 1783, Gen. Synop. Birds 2: 342 – Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough.
Certhia heteroclites Quoy & Gaimard, 1830: in Dumont d’Urville, Voyage Astrolabe Zool. 1: 223, pl. 17, fig. 1 – Tasman Bay.
Mohoua hua Lesson, 1837: Compléments Oeuvres Buffon 9: 139 – South Island.
Orthonyx icterocephalus Lafresnaye, 1839: Rev. de Zool., Paris 2: 257 – South Island.
Orthonyx heteroclitus [sic] Lafresnaye, 1839: Mag. Zool., Paris: pl. 8 – South Island.
Muscicapa Chloris J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 87 – South Island.
Clitonyx (Muscicapa) ochrocephala (Gmelin); Reichenbach 1851, Handb. Spec. Ornith. 1: 167.
Mohoua ochrocephala (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 220.
Orthonyx ochrocephala (Gmelin); Buller 1872 (Jun.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 1st edition (part 2): 103.
Certhiparus ochrocephalus (Gmelin); Gadow 1883, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 8: 76.
Clitonyx ochrocephala (Gmelin); Buller 1887 (Oct.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 2nd edition 1 (part 2): 56.
Mohua [sic] ochrocephala (Gmelin); Hutton 1903, Ibis 3 (8th series): 319.
Mohoua ochrocephala ochrocephala (Gmelin); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 62.
Formerly widespread in South Island and Stewart Island / Rakiura forests, now absent from most of its former range and threatened at unmanaged sites. Well established only in or near Fiordland and Mount Aspiring National Parks, with remnant populations at Arthur’s Pass National Park and Southland. Recently extinct at Mount Stokes (Marlborough Sounds; Gaze 2003). Translocated to several predator-free islands in Fiordland, Marlborough Sounds, and near Stewart Island / Rakiura (Miskelly & Powlesland 2013). Holocene records from widespread South Island sites, especially laughing owl food deposits (Checklist Committee 1990).
➤ Mohoua novaeseelandiae (Gmelin)
Brown Creeper | Pīpipi
Parus novae Seelandiae Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(2): 1013. Based on the “New Zealand Titmouse” of Latham 1783, Gen. Synop. Birds 2: 558 – Dusky Bay = Dusky Sound, Fiordland.
Parus zelandicus Quoy & Gaimard, 1830: in Dumont d’Urville, Voyage Astrolabe Zool. 1: 210, pl. 11, fig. 3 – Tasman Bay.
Certhiparus Novae-Zealandiae (Gmelin); Lafresnaye 1842, Rev. de Zool., Paris 5: 69. Unjustified emendation.
Certhiparus Novae Seelandiae (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1843, in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 189.
Certhiparus maculicaudus G.R. Gray, 1843: in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 189 – New Zealand.
Parus urostigma J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 90 – South Island.
Certhiparus urostigma (J.R. Forster); Ellman 1861, Zoologist 19: 7465.
Certhiparus novae seelandiae (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 221.
Certhiparus Novae Zelandiae Gmelin [sic]; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 73. Unjustified emendation.
Phyllodytes Novae-Zealandiae (Gmelin); Finsch 1873, Journ. für Ornith. 21 (series 4): 397. Unjustified emendation.
Finschia novaeseelandiae (Gmelin); Hutton 1903, Ibis 3 (8th series): 319.
Certhiparus novae-zealandiae (Gmelin); Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 136. Unjustified emendation.
Finschia novae-seelandiae (Gmelin); Mathews 1930, Emu 29: 285.
Mohoua novaeseelandiae (Gmelin); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 205.
Widespread in South Island and Stewart Island / Rakiura forests and scrub; on several islands off Stewart Island / Rakiura and in the Marlborough Sounds. Holocene records from widespread South Island sites, especially laughing owl food deposits (Checklist Committee 1990). The name brown creeper is also used for a North American species (Certhia americana, Certhiidae).
Family ORIOLIDAE Vigors: Old World Orioles, Pitohuis, Figbirds, and Piopio
Oriolina Vigors, 1825: Zoological Journ. 2(7): 395 – Type genus Oriolus Linnaeus, 1766.
Checklist Committee (2010) followed the conclusions of Christidis, Leeton et al. (1996) who found that piopio were basal to the bowerbirds. However, more recent research has shown that Christidis, Leeton et al. (1996) possibly had a misidentified DNA sample, and that piopio should actually be placed in Oriolidae (Johansson et al. 2011; Zuccon & Ericson 2012; Gibb et al. 2015). Therefore the family Oriolidae is added to the New Zealand Checklist, and the family Turnagridae Buller, 1888, becomes a junior synonym of Oriolidae. We follow Dickinson & Christidis (2014) in placing Turnagra in the endemic subfamily Turnagrinae.
Subfamily †TURNAGRINAE Buller: Piopio
Turnagridae Buller, 1888: History of the Birds of N.Z., 2nd edition 1: 30 – Type genus Turnagra Lesson, 1837.
Genus †Turnagra Lesson
Turnagra Lesson, 1837: Compléments Oeuvres Buffon 8: 216 – Type species (by monotypy) Tanagra macularia Quoy & Gaimard = Turnagra capensis (Sparrman).
Keropia G.R. Gray, 1840: List Gen. Birds (1st edition): 28 – Type species (by monotypy) Turdus crassirostris Gmelin = Turnagra capensis (Sparrman).
Otagon Bonaparte, 1851: Consp. Gen. Avium 1: 374 – Type species (by monotypy) Loxia turdus J.R. Forster = Turnagra capensis (Sparrman).
Ceropia Sundevall, 1857: Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakad. Handl. 2(3): 9. Unjustified emendation.
Two species of Turnagra are recognised, based on plumage differences, and following Oliver (1955) and Holdaway et al. (2001).
➤ †Turnagra tanagra (Schlegel)
North Island Piopio | Piopio*
Otagon tanagra Schlegel, 1866: Ned. Tijdsch. Dierk. 3: 190 – no locality = North Island (fide Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 68).
Turnagra hectori Buller, 1869: Ibis 5 (new series): 39 – North Island.
Turnagra Hectori Buller; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 73.
Keropia tanagra (Schlegel); Finsch 1870, Journ. für Ornith. 18: 323.
Turnagra tanagra (Schlegel); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 445.
Turnagra capensis tanagra (Schlegel); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 68.
At the time of European settlement found in forest, and even common, over most of the North Island, but had all but disappeared by 1900. Early records suggest that it was rare in Northland. Sight records (unconfirmed) claimed from: inland from Patea (1923), inland from Te Araroa (c. 1927), between Gisborne and Wairoa (May 1947), Whanganui River (Mar. 1950), Okataina, and Waikaremoana (Checklist Committee 1990). Holocene and midden records from widely distributed deposits over the North Island, including the Far North (Checklist Committee 1990).
*Also used for South Island piopio T. capensis.
➤ †Turnagra capensis (Sparrman)
South Island Piopio | Piopio*
South Island and Stephens Island / Takapourewa.
†Turnagra capensis minor J.H. Fleming
Stephens Island Piopio
Turnagra capensis minor J.H. Fleming, 1915: Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 38: 121 – Stephens Island.
Turnagra capensis capensis (Sparrman); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 229. In part.
Turnagra capensis minor J.H. Fleming; Medway 2004, Notornis 51: 232.
Stephens Island / Takapourewa in Cook Strait. Birds from this population are distinctive in their plumage and small size, and so are recognised as a subspecies here following Medway (2004c). Said to have been numerous in 1894 and a specimen was collected in Jan. 1897 (Medway 2004c); presumably the population died out soon after.
†Turnagra capensis capensis (Sparrman)
South Island Piopio | Piopio*
Tanagra capensis Sparrman, 1787: Mus. Carlsonianum 2: no XLV, pl. 45 – “Cape of Good Hope”, error for Dusky or Queen Charlotte Sound (fide Oliver 1930, New Zealand Birds, 1st edition: 447).
Turdus crassirostris Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(2): 815. Based on the “Thick-billed Thrush” of Latham 1783, Gen. Synop. Birds 2: 34, pl. 37 – Dusky Sound, Fiordland.
Campephaga ferruginea Vieillot, 1817: Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd. 10: 48 – New Zealand.
Tanagra macularia Quoy & Gaimard, 1830: in Dumont d’Urville, Voyage Astrolabe Zool. 1: 186, pl. 7, fig. 1 – Tasman Bay.
Keropia crassirostris (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1840, List Gen. Birds (1st edition): 28.
Loxia Turdus J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 85 – South Island.
Otagon turdus (J.R. Forster); Bonaparte 1851, Consp. Gen. Avium 1: 374.
Ceropia crassirostris (Gmelin); Sundevall 1857, Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakad. Handl. 2(3): 9.
Turnagra crassirostris (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 225.
Turnagra turdus (J.R. Forster); G.R. Gray 1869, Hand-list Birds 1: 284.
Otagon crassirostris (Gmelin); Sundevall 1872, Methodi Naturalis Avium Tentamen: 19.
Turnagra capensis (Sparrman); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 445.
Turnagra capensis capensis (Sparrman); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 68.
Widespread in forested areas throughout the South Island at the time of European settlement. Although early records refer to it as abundant in several localities, it was “a fast expiring species” at the time of Buller’s Supplement (Buller 1905–06). Unconfirmed sight records claimed from: west Nelson (Jan. 1948); Southland (Dec. 1947); Waiuna Lagoon, Fiordland (Aug. 1962); and Fiordland (May 1963). Holocene, and midden, records widely distributed (Checklist Committee 2010).
*Also used for North Island piopio T. tanagra.
Family CAMPEPHAGIDAE Vigors: Cuckoo-shrikes and Trillers
Campephagina Vigors, 1825: Zoological Journ. 2(7): 395 – Type genus Campephaga Vieillot, 1816.
Genus Coracina Vieillot
Coracina Vieillot, 1816: Analyse Nouv. Ornith. Elem.: 37 – Type species (by subsequent designation) “Choucari” of Buffon = Coracina papuensis (Gmelin).
➤ Coracina novaehollandiae (Gmelin)
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Turdus Novae Hollandiae Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(2): 814 – “terra van Diemen” = Adventure Bay, Tasmania (fide E. Mayr in Peters 1960, Check-list Birds World 9: 172).
Colluricincla concinna Hutton, 1871: Cat. Birds N.Z.: 15 – Motueka, Nelson.
Graucalus concinnus (Hutton); Hutton 1872, Trans. N.Z. Inst. 5: 225.
Graucalus melanops; Buller 1872 (Jun.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 1st edition (part 2): 148. Not Corvus melanops Latham, 1801.
Coracina robusta robusta; Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 442. Not Lanius robustus Latham, 1801.
Coracina novaehollandiae (Gmelin); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 59.
Coracina novaehollandiae novaehollandiae (Gmelin); E. Mayr in Peters 1960, Check-list Birds World 9: 172.
Throughout Australia (including Tasmania); also Lesser Sunda Islands, New Guinea, and west Solomon Islands; southern Australian birds partly migratory. Rare straggler to New Zealand, with at least 21 records: Motueka, c. 1869; Invercargill, Apr. 1870 (F. Hutton 1871; Stidolph 1927); Westport, c. 1895, 1931 (Checklist Committee 1953), Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora and Nelson, Jun. 1904 (F. Hutton 1905; Oliver 1955); Okato, Taranaki, 1914; Greymouth, ?1914 (Checklist Committee 1953); north Kaipara Heads, Jan.–Sep. 1953 (Turbott 1954); Himatangi, Jan. 1955 (R. Wilson 1955); Feilding 1965; Okuru, south Westland, 1966 (Checklist Committee 1970); Waikanae, Jun. 1984 (Miskelly et al. 2015); Rotorua, Jun. 1987 (Checklist Committee 2010); Tarras, Central Otago, Mar. 1990 (Guest 1991); Halfmoon Bay, Stewart Island / Rakiura, Jul. 2001 (Medway 2002f); New Plymouth, May 2005 (Scofield 2006); Kapiti Island, Nov. 2006 (Scofield 2008); Horseshoe Bay, Stewart Island / Rakiura, May 2011 (Miskelly et al. 2013); near Marton, Jul. 2015 (Miskelly, Crossland et al. 2017); Wairamarama, Waikato, Jul. 2019 (Miskelly, Crossland et al. 2021). The subspecific identity of New Zealand birds has not been determined; they are presumed to be from Australia where there are three subspecies (Schodde & Mason 1999).
Genus Lalage Boie
Lalage Boie, 1826: Isis von Oken, Heft 10: col. 973 – Type species (by monotypy) Turdus orientalis Gmelin = Lalage nigra J.R. Forster.
Symmorphus Gould, 1838: Synop. Birds Australia: 3 – Type species (by monotypy) Symmorphus leucopygus 1838 = Lalage leucopyga (Gould). Junior homonym of Symmorphus Wesmael, 1836.
Diaphoropterus Oberholser, 1899: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1899 (1): 214. Unnecessary nomen novum for Symmorphus Gould, 1838.
➤ Lalage tricolor (Swainson)
White-winged Triller
Ceblepyris tricolor Swainson, 1825: Zoological Journ. 1: 467 – Australia, restricted to Sydney (fide Mathews 1930, Synop. Av. Australia: 546).
Lalage tricolor (Swainson); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 199.
Throughout mainland Australia; vagrant to Tasmania; southern populations migratory. Rare straggler to New Zealand; one sight record, Feb.–Jun. 1969, Macandrew Bay, Otago Peninsula (McPherson 1973). Sometimes united with L. sueurii (Vieillot, 1818) (Timor) under that name (e.g. Christidis & Boles 2008).
Family ARTAMIDAE Blyth: Butcherbirds, Currawongs, and Woodswallows
Artamidae Blyth, 1849: Cat. Birds Mus. Asiatic Soc.: 199 – Type genus Artamus Vieillot, 1816.
Checklist Committee (2010) adopted recommendations by Australian authorities to unite woodswallows, magpies, butcherbirds, and currawongs in the family Artamidae, therefore synonymising Cracticidae within Artamidae. Kearns et al. (2013) found Artamidae (sensu Schodde & Mason 1999 and Christidis & Boles 2008) to be paraphyletic; however, they recommended further work using increased locus and taxon-sampling within the context of a rigorous multilocus coalescent species tree approach before considering raising Cracticinae to family-level.
Subfamily ARTAMINAE Blyth: Woodswallows
Artamidae Blyth, 1849: Cat. Birds Mus. Asiatic Soc.: 199 – Type genus Artamus Vieillot, 1816.
Genus Artamus Vieillot
Artamus Vieillot, 1816: Analyse Nouv. Ornith. Elem.: 41 – Type species (by monotypy) “Langraien (Buffon)” = Lanius leucorhynchus Linnaeus = Artamus leucorhynchus (Linnaeus).
➤ Artamus personatus (Gould)
Masked Woodswallow
Ocypterus personatus Gould, 1841: Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1840 (8): 149 – southern and western Australia.
Artamus personatus (Gould); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 227.
Mainland Australia (not Tasmania), particularly inland; migratory and nomadic. Associates with the white-browed woodswallow on migration and in breeding colonies. Straggler to Norfolk Island (J. Moore 1999). Two records in New Zealand: a pair at Naseby Forest, Central Otago, Jan. 1972 to Aug. 1973 bred and reared two chicks (Darby 1972; Child 1974, 1975a); with them were associated four white-browed woodswallows (q.v.); one at Waitawheta, Bay of Plenty, Nov. 2019 (Miskelly, Crossland et al. 2021).
➤ Artamus superciliosus (Gould)
White-browed Woodswallow
Ocypterus superciliosus Gould, 1837: Synop. Birds Australia 1: pl. 1, fig. 2 – interior of New South Wales, Australia.
Artamus superciliosus (Gould); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 227.
East and central Australia (not Tasmania); particularly inland. Straggler to Norfolk Island (J. Moore 1999). Rare straggler to New Zealand. Four at Naseby Forest, Central Otago, Dec. 1971 to Jul. 1973, associating with a pair of masked woodswallows (Darby 1972; Child 1974, 1975a). One at Miranda, Firth of Thames, Sep. 1991 (Guest 1992); one at Dannevirke, Sep. 2007 (Birds New Zealand Unusual Bird Report database, viewed Feb. 2022).
➤ Artamus cyanopterus (Latham)
Dusky Woodswallow
Loxia cyanoptera Latham, 1801: Index Ornith. Suppl.: xlvi – “New Holland” = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (fide E. Mayr & Greenway 1962, in Peters Check-list Birds World 15: 165).
Turdus sordidus Latham, 1801: Index Ornith. Suppl.: xliii. Not Turdus sordidus Statius Müller, 1776.
Artamus lineatus Vieillot, 1817: Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd. 17: 297 – “Nouvelle-Hollande” = Australia.
Ocypterus albo-vittatus Valenciennes, 1820: Mém. Mus. Nat. d’Hist. natur., Paris 6: 23, pl. 8 – Timor.
Artamus albovittatus (Valenciennes); Vigors & Horsfield 1826: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 15: 210.
Leptopteryx albovittata (Valenciennes); Wagler 1827: Syst. Avium: sp. 5.
Artamus sordidus (Latham); Sharpe 1890, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 13: 19.
Artamus cyanopterus cyanopterus (Latham); Schodde & Mason 1999, Directory Australian Birds. Passerines: 568.
Artamus cyanopterus (Latham); Christidis & Boles 2008: Syst. Taxon. Australian Birds: 35, 196.
Southern and eastern Australia (Higgins et al. 2006). The sole record of this species in New Zealand was a bird seen at Oban, Stewart Island, in Sep. 2014 (Kakishima & Morimoto 2015).
Subfamily CRACTICINAE Chenu & des Murs: Butcherbirds, Currawongs, and Bell Magpies
Cracticinés Chenu & des Murs, 1853: Encycl. d’Hist. Nat., Oiseaux 5: 77 – Type genus Cracticus Vieillot, 1816.
We follow Checklist Committee (2010) and Cake et al. (2018) in using genus Gymnorhina for Australian magpie (cf. Cracticus, as recommended by Christidis & Boles 2008 and Kearns et al. 2013). This approach (Australian magpie in genus Gymnorhina, in family Artamidae) has also been followed by Dickinson & Christidis (2014), Clements et al. (2019), Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International (2020), and F. Gill et al. (2021).
Genus *Gymnorhina G.R. Gray
Gymnorhina G.R. Gray, 1840: List Gen. Birds (1st edition): 37 – Type species (by original designation) Coracias tibicen Latham = Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham).
➤ *Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham)
Australian Magpie | Makipai
Coracias tibicen Latham, 1801: Index Ornith. Suppl.: xxvii – New South Wales, Australia.
Gymnorhina leuconota Gould, 1844: Birds of Australia 2: pl. 47 – South Australia.
Gymnorhina leuconota Gould; Thomson 1922, Naturalisation Animals Plants New Zealand: 151.
Gymnorhina hypoleuca; Oliver 1930, New Zealand Birds, 1st edition: 521. Not Cracticus hypoleucus Gould, 1837.
Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 67.
Gymnorhina tibicen tibicen (Latham); Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 73.
Gymnorhina tibicen hypoleuca; Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 73. Not Cracticus hypoleucus Gould, 1837.
Cracticus tibicen (Latham); Christidis & Boles 2008, Syst. Taxon. Australian Birds: 35, 196.
Gymnorhina tibicen tibicien; Scofield & Stephenson 2013, Birds N.Z. Photographic Guide. 1st edition: 460. Misspelling.
Australia and southern New Guinea. New Zealand: successfully introduced to both North and South Islands during the 1860s. Now common and widespread throughout the North Island, and much of the South Island, from sea level to 1,700 m a.s.l. Least evident along the South Island West Coast and on Stewart Island / Rakiura (C. Robertson et al. 2007). It used to be thought that two forms, the black-backed magpie and white-backed magpie, were introduced, with various degrees of inter-breeding and hybridisation around the country: see 1990 Checklist (Checklist Committee 1990) for details. The situation is less clear now that Schodde & Mason (1999) have recognised eight subspecies from Australia and Tasmania, with extensive zones of intergradation between abutting subspecies.
Family RHIPIDURIDAE Sundevall: Fantails
Rhipiduridae Sundevall, 1872: Methodi Naturalis Avium Tentamen 1: 25 – Type genus Rhipidura Vigors & Horsfield, 1827.
We follow Christidis & Boles (2008) in placing Rhipidura in its own family rather than in Dicruridae. We follow Schodde & Mason (1999) in recognising Rh. fuliginosa as a species endemic to New Zealand and Lord Howe Island, and distinct from Rh. albiscapa of mainland Australia and Norfolk Island.
Genus Rhipidura Vigors & Horsfield
Rhipidura Vigors & Horsfield, 1827: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 15: 246 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Muscicapa flabellifera Gmelin = Rhipidura fuliginosa Sparrman.
Leucocirca Swainson, 1838: Naturalist’s Library, Ornith. 21(10): 126, pl. 11 – Type species (by monotypy) Leucocirca laticauda Swainson = Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham).
Leucocerca Strickland, 1841: Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., London 7: 28. Unjustified emendation.
➤ Rhipidura fuliginosa (Sparrman)
New Zealand Fantail | Pīwakawaka
New Zealand (including Chatham Islands); Lord Howe Island (subspecies Rh. f. cervina; extinct). Forms a superspecies with Rh. albiscapa of Australia, and taxa on islands of the Melanesian region of the south-west Pacific (Schodde & Mason 1999).
Rhipidura fuliginosa placabilis Bangs
North Island Fantail
Rhipidura flabellifera kempi Mathews & Iredale, 1913: Ibis 1 (10th series): 441 – North Island. Junior primary homonym of Rhipidura rufifrons kempi Mathews, 1912.
Rhipidura flabellifera placabilis Bangs, 1921: Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 44: 583. Nomen novum for Rhipidura flabellifera kempi Mathews & Iredale, 1913.
Rhipidura flabellifera melandae [sic] Mathews, 1926: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 47: 40. Unnecessary nomen novum for Rhipidura flabellifera kempi Mathews & Iredale, 1913.
Rhipidura fuliginosa placabilis Bangs; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 60.
North Island and offshore islands. Common throughout, both in forest and in settled districts wherever there are trees and shrubs; accepted modified conditions from the earliest days of European settlement. Scattered Holocene and midden records (Checklist Committee 1990). The species is dimorphic (see account for next subspecies), but melanistic individuals are rare in the North Island.
Rhipidura fuliginosa fuliginosa (Sparrman)
South Island Fantail
Muscicapa fuliginosa Sparrman, 1787: Mus. Carlsonianum 2: no XLVII, pl. 47 – “In Deserto Africano inter rivulum Heuj et Fontem Quamedacka”, error for South Island (fide E. Mayr in Peters 1986, Check-list Birds World 11: 546).
Muscicapa flabellifera Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(2): 943. Based on the “Fantail Flycatcher” of Latham 1783, Gen. Synop. Birds 2(1): 340, pl. 49 – Dusky Sound, Fiordland.
Muscicapa deserti Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat. 13th edition 1(2): 949 – ?New Zealand.
Mostacilla [sic] ventilabrum J.R. Forster, 1794: Mag. merkwürdigen neuen Reise Beschreibungen 11(3): 313, footnote – New Zealand and Norfolk Island, restricted to South Island (fide Steinheimer et al. 2008, Notornis 55(1): 35).
Rhipidura melanura G.R. Gray, 1843: in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 190 – “Cook’s Straits”.
Muscicapa Ventilabrum J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 86 – South Island. Junior secondary homonym of Motacilla ventilabrum J.R. Forster, 1794.
Rhipidura flabellifera (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 8.
Leucocerca melanura (G.R. Gray); Bonaparte 1850, Consp. Gen. Avium 1: 324.
Rhipidura tristis Hombron & Jacquinot, 1853: in Dumont d’Urville, Voyage Pôle Sud, Zoologie 3: 76, pl. 2, fig. 5 – Otago.
Rhipidura sombre Hombron & Jacquinot, 1853: in Dumont d’Urville, Voyage Pôle Sud, Zoologie Atlas: pl. 11, fig. 4 – South Island.
Rhipidura fuliginosa Sparrman [sic]; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 73.
Rhipidura trestis Hombron [sic]; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 73. Unjustified emendation.
Rhipidura fuliginosa (Sparrman); Buller 1887 (Oct.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 2nd edition 1 (part 2): 72.
Rhipidura flabellifera flabellifera (Gmelin); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 441.
Rhipidura fuliginosa fuliginosa (Sparrman); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 60.
South Island, Stewart Island / Rakiura, and outliers. Widespread throughout excepting alpine tops and tussock (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Colonised Snares Islands / Tini Heke c. 1980, but died out following a storm event in 2001 (Miskelly et al. 2001a; Miskelly & Sagar 2008). A few scattered Holocene and midden records, but more common in laughing owl food deposits (Checklist Committee 1990). The species is dimorphic in the South Island, the proportion of “black” (melanistic) to “pied” birds varying locally (Craig 1972; Atkinson & Briskie 2007).
Rhipidura fuliginosa penita Bangs
Chatham Island Fantail | Tchitake
Rhipidura flabillifera [sic] penitus Bangs, 1911: Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 24: 41 – Chatham Islands.
Rhipidura flabellifera penitus Bangs; Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 441.
Rhipidura fuliginosa penitus [sic] Bangs; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 60.
Rhipidura fuliginosa penita Bangs; Sibson 1980, Notornis 27: 93.
Rhipidura fuliginosa penita Bangs; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 208.
Chatham, Pitt, Rangatira, and Mangere Islands of the Chatham Islands (Aikman & Miskelly 2004). A few Holocene cave, dune, and midden records from Chatham Island.
➤ Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham)
Willie Wagtail
Turdus leucophrys Latham, 1801: Index Ornith. Suppl.: xlv – “New Holland”, restricted to Sydney, Australia (fide Mathews 1930, Syst. Avium Australasianarum 2: 496).
Leucocirca leucophrys leucophrys (Latham); Mathews 1930, Syst. Avium Australasianarum 2: 496.
Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham); E. Mayr in Peters 1986, Check-list Birds World 11: 537.
Moluccas, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Australia. Vagrant to Tasmania. Rare straggler to New Zealand: one record (Mangere Island, Chatham Islands, Oct. 1999; Gummer 2002). Subspecies reaching New Zealand not known, but probably the nominate race, from southern and eastern Australia.
Family MONARCHIDAE Bonaparte: Monarch Flycatchers
Monarchinae Bonaparte, 1854: Ann. Sci. Nat., Zool. Paris, 4th series 1: 126 – Type genus Monarcha Vigors & Horsfield, 1827.
Genus Myiagra Vigors & Horsfield
Myiagra Vigors & Horsfield, 1827: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 15: 250 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Myiagra rubeculoides Vigors & Horsfield = Myiagra rubecula (Latham).
Submyiagra Mathews, 1913: Austral Avian Rec. 2: 61 – Type species (by original designation) Platyrhynchos vanikorensis Quoy & Gaimard = Myiagra vanikorensis (Quoy & Gaimard).
➤ Myiagra cyanoleuca (Vieillot)
Satin Flycatcher
Platyrhynchos cyanoleucus Vieillot, 1818: Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., 27: 11 – “Timor”, error for Sydney, Australia (fide Mathews 1930, Syst. Avium Australasianarum 2: 502).
Submyiagra cyanoleuca cyanoleuca (Vieillot); Mathews 1930, Syst. Avium Australasianarum 2: 502.
Myiagra cyanoleuca (Vieillot); Blackburn 1963, Notornis 10: 262.
Eastern Australia from Cape York to Tasmania; migratory from southern part of range to northern Queensland and New Guinea. Rare straggler to New Zealand: sight record, Hexton, near Gisborne, Jun. 1963 (Blackburn 1963); one found dead, Motueka, Dec. 1988 (Guest 1990).
Genus Monarcha Vigors & Horsfield
Monarcha Vigors & Horsfield, 1827: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 15: 254 – Type species (by monotypy) Muscipeta carinata Swainson = Monarcha melanopsis (Vieillot).
➤ Monarcha melanopsis (Vieillot)
Black-faced Monarch
Muscicapa melanopsis Vieillot, 1818: Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd. 21: 450 – “New South Wales”, restricted to Sydney, Australia.
Monarcha melanopsis (Vieillot); Tennyson 1997, Notornis 44: 267.
East coast of Australia, migrating north in winter to Cape York Peninsula and New Guinea. No subspecies. Rare straggler to New Zealand: one record (Stratford, Taranaki, Apr. 1996; Tennyson 1997).
Genus Grallina Vieillot
Tanypus Oppel, 1812: Denkschrift Königl. Baier. Akad. Wissen. München: 164. Type species (by monotypy) Tanypus australis Oppel. Not Tanypus Meigen, 1803.
Grallina Vieillot, 1816: Analyse Nouv. Ornith. Elem.: 42. – Type species (by monotypy) Grallina melanoleuca Vieillot = Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham).
➤ Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham)
Magpie-lark
Gracula picata Latham, 1801: Index Ornith. Suppl.: xxix. “New Holland” = Australia. Suppressed and invalid (fide ICZN 2009, Opinion 2240, Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 66(4): 375).
Corvus cyanoleucus Latham, 1801: Index Ornith. Suppl.: xxv – Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Name placed in the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology (fide ICZN 2009, Opinion 2240, Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 66(4): 375).
Tanypus australis Oppel, 1812: Denkschrift Königl. Baier. Akad. Wissen. München: 164 – Australia.
Grallina melanoleuca Vieillot, 1816: Analyse Nouv. Ornith. Elem.: 68 – “Nouvelle-Hollande” = Australia.
Merops picatus Shaw, 1812: Gen. Zool., Syst. Natur. Hist. Aves 8: 165 – “New Holland” = Australia.
Grallina cyanoleuca cyanoleuca (Latham); Schodde & Mason 1999, Directory Australian Birds. Passerines: 507.
Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham); Christidis & Boles 2008: Syst. Taxon. Australian Birds: 36, 200.
Throughout mainland Australia other than the arid interior; also Lord Howe Island (introduced) and Timor. Two subspecies recognised: G. c. neglecta Mathews, 1912 in northern Australia and Timor, and G. c. cyanoleuca throughout the remainder of Australia plus Lord Howe Island (Higgins et al. 2006). The sole record of this species in New Zealand (other than failed introductions c. 1900; Appendix 2) was a bird seen at Gorge River, South Westland, Apr. 2008 (Miskelly, Crossland et al. 2017).
Family CORVIDAE Leach: Crows and Jays
Corvidae Leach, 1820: Eleventh room. In Synopsis Contents British Museum 17th edition, London: 67 – Type genus Corvus Linnaeus, 1758.
Genus Corvus Linnaeus
Corvus Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 105 – Type species (by tautonymy) “Corvus” = Corvus corax Linnaeus.
Palaeocorax Forbes, 1892: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 1(4): 21 – Type species (by original designation) Corvus moriorum Forbes.
Based on genetic results and a lack of osteological differences, Scofield et al. (2017) did not support the separation of the extinct New Zealand taxa at species level, and recommended that Corvus antipodum (Forbes, 1893) be considered a subspecies of Corvus moriorum Forbes, 1892. They also recommended that Corvus antipodum pycrafti Gill, 2003 be considered a junior synonym of Corvus antipodum (Forbes, 1893). However, the North Island subspecies Corvus antipodum antipodum was not analysed as part of the study and therefore the validity of the two mainland subspecies has not been re-examined. In B. Gill’s (2003) original description of the South Island raven Corvus antipodum pycrafti, he discussed Bergmann’s Rule with regards to larger birds being in the South Island but pointed out that several other bird sister taxa are separated at Cook Strait. Therefore, we have taken a conservative approach by still recognising both mainland subspecies.
➤ †Corvus moriorum Forbes
New Zealand Raven
†Corvus moriorum antipodum (Forbes)
North Island Raven
Palaeocorax antipodum Forbes, 1893: Ibis 5 (6th series): 544 – North Island, restricted to Tokerau Beach, Doubtless Bay, Northland (fide Gill 2003, Journ. Syst. Palaeont. 1(1): 53).
Corvus antipodum antipodum (Forbes); Gill 2003, Journ. Syst. Palaeont. 1: 53.
Corvus moriorum antipodum (Forbes); Scofield et al. 2017, Mol. Phyl. Evol. 106: 142.
North Island: widespread in coastal Holocene deposits and midden sites throughout (B. Gill 2003; Scofield et al. 2017). Present at Poukawa and Te Aute (Hawke’s Bay) within 25 km of the sea, but absent from the Waitomo karst sites further inland.
†Corvus moriorum pycrafti Gill
South Island Raven
Corvus antipodum pycrafti Gill 2003, Journ. Syst. Palaeont. 1: 54 – Marfells Beach, Marlborough.
Corvus moriorum pycrafti Gill; REPAD: The Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database (accessed Jul. 2021).
Widespread in coastal Holocene deposits and midden sites along the South Island east coast (B. Gill 2003; Scofield et al. 2017). Present on West Coast at now-forested areas (e.g. Punakaiki, Oparara) when these were open habitats in the Pleistocene. Also recorded on Stewart Island / Rakiura (Holocene deposits and midden). Rarer inland, e.g. Pyramid Valley, Ngapara, and Bannockburn (Holdaway & Worthy 1997; NMNZ S.23396, S.38935). A bone found on Enderby Island, Auckland Islands / Maukahuka may have been from a vagrant individual (Dawson 2020).
†Corvus moriorum moriorum Forbes
Chatham Island Raven
Corvus moriorum Forbes, 1892: Nature 46(1185): 252 – Chatham Islands, restricted to main Chatham Island (fide Gill 2003, Journ. Syst. Palaeont. 1(1): 53).
Palaeocorax moriorum (Forbes); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 230.
Corvus moriorum moriorum Forbes; Scofield et al. 2017, Mol. Phyl. Evol. 106: 142.
Known from abundant Holocene remains in sand-dunes on Chatham Island, and a few bones from Pitt Island (Millener 1999; B. Gill 2003). Present in midden deposits on Chatham Island (Checklist Committee 1990).
➤ *Corvus frugilegus Linnaeus
Rook
Corvus frugilegus Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 105 – Europe, restricted to Sweden (fide Hartert 1903, Vögel Pal. Fauna 1: 13).
Corvus frugilegus Linnaeus; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 67.
Northern and central Europe, west and central Asia, east Siberia, and north and central China. Northern populations migratory; winters to North Africa, India, southern China, and Japan. New Zealand: introduced to Auckland, Napier, and Christchurch during the 1870s. After an initial increase, the Auckland population disappeared about 1905. The Hawke’s Bay population prospered; now widely distributed on farmlands of the east coast of the North Island from northern Hawke’s Bay to southern Wairarapa (Coleman 1971; Bull & Porter 1975). Smaller isolated colonies, many ephemeral, and stragglers, have been recorded at widely scattered localities throughout the North and South Islands, and one bird from Chatham Island (Heather & Robertson 1996; C. Robertson et al. 2007). The population peaked in 1978 (c. 30,000 birds), but has since been reduced by frequent poisoning and shooting by local authorities.
“PASSERIDA”: Eurasian and New World Songbirds
Petroica is regarded as a passeridan genus rather than a corvidan one, for the reasons discussed by Christidis & Boles (2008). Niethammer (1971) attempted to assign subspecific attributions to all the populations of European songbirds established in New Zealand. However, in some cases this is problematical for a list of reasons discussed by Checklist Committee (1990: xii), and until more work is done on these taxa some are best named at just the binomial level.
Family PETROICIDAE Mathews: Australasian Robins
Petroicinae Mathews, 1920: Birds Australia. 8: 80 – Type genus Petroica Swainson, 1830.
Genus Petroica Swainson
Petroica Swainson, 1830: Zool. Illustr. (series 2) 80: pl. 36 & text – Type species (by monotypy) Muscicapa multicolor Gmelin = Petroica multicolor (Gmelin).
Miro Lesson, 1831: Traité d’Ornith. 5(1): 389 – Type species (by monotypy) Muscicapa longipes Garnot = Petroica longipes (Garnot).
Myiomoira Reichenbach, 1850: Avium Syst. Nat.: pl. 67 – Type species (by monotypy) Muscicapa toitoi Lesson = Petroica macrocephala toitoi (Lesson).
Myioscopus Reichenbach, 1850: Avium Syst. Nat.: pl. 67 – Type species (by monotypy) Muscicapa longipes Garnot = Petroica longipes (Garnot).
Nesomiro Mathews & Iredale, 1913: Ibis 1 (10th series): 440 – Type species (by original designation) Miro traversi Buller = Petroica traversi (Buller).
Several studies using both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA revealed New Zealand robins (which were formerly placed in the subgenus Miro) to be embedded with the Australo-Pacific genus Petroica (H. Miller & Lambert 2006; Kearns, Joseph et al. 2019; Kearns, Malloy et al. 2019). These same studies also showed black robin (which was formerly included in subgenus Miro) to be more closely related to tomtits than it is to North Island and South Island robins. We therefore no longer recognise subgenera within the genus Petroica.
Kearns, Malloy et al. (2019) showed that all New Zealand taxa were in a monophyletic clade that is basal to the Australo-Pacific radiation, and that these lineages have been separated for c. 7 million years. Miro is available as a genus name for all New Zealand taxa (i.e. both robins and tomtits). We have chosen to leave all species in Petroica pending further analyses.
Based on an analysis of mtDNA sequences, H. Miller & Lambert (2006) supported the separation of North and South Island robins at the specific level. The North Island robin is considerably smaller than its South Island congener, with marked plumage differences, as detailed in the major study by Fleming (1950a,b). However, the Stewart Island / Rakiura population is poorly distinguished, both genetically (H. Miller & Lambert 2006) and morphologically, and is retained here as a subspecies of the South Island robin. H. Miller & Lambert (2006) recommended retaining the tomtit populations as subspecies; the greatest genetic distinction, in the sequences they studied, was for the Chatham Island tomtit rather than the melanistic Snares Island tomtit. Given this, we have retained the status quo (Checklist Committee 1990, 2010) with the tomtit taxa kept as subspecies. Fleming’s hypothesis (1950a,b) that the black robin is an insular derivative of the mainland robins, was not supported by H. Miller & Lambert (2006), Kearns, Joseph et al. (2019), or Kearns, Malloy et al. (2019), who found that it grouped strongly with the tomtit instead. We therefore place black robin after tomtit in the species sequence, rather than after North and South Island robins.
A. Hamilton (1909: 15) listed “Petroeca vittata, Quoy et Gaim. (Dusky Robin.)”, as a species present in New Zealand. That species, currently known as Melanodryas (Amaurodryas) vittata (Quoy & Gaimard, 1830), is endemic to Tasmania (Green 1989) and has not been recorded in New Zealand. Hamilton’s “Petroeca vittata” is almost certainly a misidentification.
➤ Petroica macrocephala (Gmelin)
Tomtit
New Zealand. North, South, Stewart / Rakiura, Chatham, Snares / Tini Heke, and Auckland / Maukahuka Islands. Still widely established in remaining native forests and scrublands, and has entered many exotic forests, but is not a permanent inhabitant of gardens and settled areas.
Petroica macrocephala toitoi (Lesson)
North Island Tomtit | Miromiro*
Muscicapa toitoi Lesson, 1828: Manuel d’Ornith. 1: 188 – Bay of Islands, Northland.
Miro toitoi (Lesson); G.R. Gray 1843, in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 191.
Petroica toitoi (Lesson); G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 6.
Muscicapa albopectus Ellman, 1861: Zoologist 19: 7465 – New Zealand.
Myiomoira toitoi (Garnot) [sic]; Buller 1896, Trans. Proc. N.Z. Inst. 28: 337.
Petroeca [sic] toitoi (Garnot) [sic]; Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 114.
Myiomoira toitoi (Lesson); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 436.
Petroica macrocephala toitoi (Lesson); C.A. Fleming 1950, Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 78(1): 33.
Petroica (Petroica) macrocephala toitoi (Lesson); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 209.
Petroica toitoi (Lesson); Holdaway et al. 2001, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 28(2): 137, 180.
North Island: widespread in forested areas of Northland, Coromandel, central areas from Taranaki to East Cape, and the south; also on larger offshore islands including Hen and Chickens, Hauturu / Little Barrier, Great Barrier / Aotea, and Kapiti Islands. Holocene remains in several cave sites (Checklist Committee 1990).
*Also used for P. m. chathamensis and P. m. dannefaerdi
Petroica macrocephala macrocephala (Gmelin)
South Island Tomtit | Ngirungiru
Parus macrocephalus Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(2): 1013. Based on the “Great-headed Titmouse” of Latham 1783, Gen. Synop. Birds 2: 557 – Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough.
Pachycephalus ? australis Stephens, 1826: in G. Shaw, General Zool. 13(2): 267 – New Zealand. Unnecessary nomen novum for Parus macrocephalus Gmelin, 1789.
Rhipidura macrocephala (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1843, in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 190.
Miro Forsterorum G.R. Gray, 1843: in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 191 – Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough.
Miro dieffenbachii G.R. Gray, 1843: in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 191 – “Chatham Islands”, probably error for South Island (fide C.A. Fleming 1950, Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 78(1): 29).
Turdus minutus J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 83 – Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough.
Petroica macrocephala (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 6.
Petroica dieffenbachii (G.R. Gray); G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 6, pl. 6, fig. 1.
Miro macrocephala (Gmelin); Bonaparte 1850, Consp. Gen. Avium 1: 299.
Muscicapa macrocephala (Gmelin); Ellman 1861, Zoologist 19: 7465.
Muscicapa minutus (J.R. Forster); Ellman 1861, Zoologist 19: 7465.
Myiomoira dieffenbachii (G.R. Gray); G.R. Gray 1869, Hand-list Birds 1: 229.
Petroica Dieffenbachi G.R. Gray [sic]; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 73. Unjustified emendation.
Petroica dieffenbachii (G.R. Gray); Hutton 1871, Cat. Birds N.Z.: 12. In part.
Myiomoira macrocephala (Gmelin); Buller 1872 (Jun.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 1st edition (part 2): 126.
Petroeca [sic] macrocephala (Gmelin); Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 114.
Myiomoira macrocephala macrocephala (Gmelin); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 436.
Myiomoira macrocephala dieffenbachii (G.R. Gray); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 436.
Petroica macrocephala macrocephala (Gmelin); C.A. Fleming 1950, Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 78(1): 28.
Petroica (Petroica) macrocephala macrocephala (Gmelin); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 209.
South Island and outliers, Stewart Island / Rakiura and outliers, Solander Island (Hautere). Widespread in most areas excepting Central Otago, the Canterbury Plains, and parts of Marlborough (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Holocene bone remains rare except in laughing owl food deposits (Checklist Committee 1990).
Petroica macrocephala chathamensis C.A. Fleming
Chatham Island Tomtit | Miromiro*
Petroica macrocephala chathamensis C.A. Fleming, 1950: Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 78(1): 36 – Rangatira [= South-East] Island, Chatham Islands.
Petroica (Petroica) macrocephala chathamensis C.A. Fleming; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 209.
Chatham Islands. Extinct since c. 1975 on Chatham Island; well established in residual forest and scrub on Pitt, Mangere, and Rangatira Islands (Aikman & Miskelly 2004). Recorded in Holocene deposits (Millener 1999).
*Also used for P. m. toitoi and P. m. dannefaerdi.
Petroica macrocephala dannefaerdi (Rothschild)
Snares Island Tomtit | Miromiro*
Myiomoira traversi; Finsch 1888, Ibis 6 (5th series): 308. Not Miro traversi Buller, 1872.
Miro dannefaerdi Rothschild, 1894: Novit. Zool. 1: 688 – Snares Islands.
Miro dannefordi Rothschild; Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 125. Unjustified emendation.
Nesomiro traversi dannefaerdi (Rothschild); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 440.
Petroica macrocephala dannefaerdi (Rothschild); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 61.
Petroica dannefaerdi (Rothschild); Oliver 1955, New Zealand Birds, 2nd edition: 484.
Petroica (Petroica) macrocephala dannefaerdi (Rothschild); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 210.
Snares Islands / Tini Heke, inhabiting mainly the Olearia scrub that covers much of the two main islands, but also in tussock areas (Miskelly et al. 2001a).
*Also used for P. m. toitoi and P. m. chathamensis
Petroica macrocephala marrineri (Mathews & Iredale)
Auckland Island Tomtit
Petroica dieffenbachii (G.R. Gray); Hutton 1871, Cat. Birds N.Z.: 12. In part.
Myiomoira macrocephala marrineri Mathews & Iredale, 1913: Ibis 1 (10th series): 436 – Auckland Islands.
Petroica macrocephala marrineri (Mathews & Iredale); Oliver 1930, New Zealand Birds, 1st edition: 459.
Myiomoira macrocephala enderbyi Mathews, 1930: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 51: 21 – Enderby Island, Auckland Islands.
Petroica (Petroica) macrocephala marrineri (Mathews & Iredale); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 210.
Petroica marrineri (Mathews & Iredale); Holdaway et al. 2001, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 28(2): 137, 174.
Auckland Islands / Maukahuka: forest and scrub on Auckland, Adams, Ocean, Enderby, and Ewing Islands. Became locally extinct on Rose Island following the eradication of rabbits in 1993 (Miskelly, Elliott et al. 2020).
➤ Petroica traversi (Buller)
Black Robin | Karure
Miro traversi Buller, 1872 (Jun.): History of the Birds of N.Z., 1st edition (part 2): 123 – Chatham Islands.
Petroica traversi Hutton, 1872 (Jul.): Ibis 2 (3rd series): 245 – “Mangare”, Chatham Islands. Junior secondary homonym of Miro traversi Buller, 1872.
Petroica traversii Hutton; Travers & Travers 1873, Trans. Proc. N.Z. Inst. 5: 216. Unjustified emendation.
Myiomoira Traversii (Hutton); Finsch 1874, Journ. für Ornith. 22: 189. Unjustified emendation.
Myiomoira traversi (Buller); Finsch 1888, Ibis 6 (5th series): 308. In part.
Nesomiro traversi traversi (Buller); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 440.
Petroica (Miro) traversi (Buller); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 61.
Chatham Islands. Presumed to have occurred on all the larger islands; by 1937 restricted to Little Mangere Island (Fleming 1939b). When the Wildlife Service management programme began in 1976, the total remaining population on Little Mangere Island (five males, two females) was transferred to Mangere Island. Now established and breeding on Mangere and Rangatira Islands. Recorded in Holocene deposits on Chatham and Mangere Islands (Tennyson & Millener 1994; Millener 1999).
➤ Petroica longipes (Garnot)
North Island Robin | Toutouwai*
Muscicapa longipes Garnot, 1827: in L.I. Duperrey, Voy. Coquille, Zool. Atlas 1(3): pl. 19, fig. 1 – Bay of Islands, Northland.
Myiothera novae-zelandiae Lesson, 1828: Manuel d’Ornith. 1: 248. Unnecessary nomen novum for Muscicapa longipes Garnot, 1827.
Miro longipes (Garnot); Lesson 1831, Traité d’Ornith. 5(1): 389.
Petroica australis; G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 7. Not Turdus australis Sparrman, 1788.
Petroica longipes (Garnot); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 223.
Myioscopus longipes (Lesson) [sic]; Finsch 1872, Journ. für Ornith. 20: 112.
Miro australis; Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 122. Not Turdus australis Sparrman, 1788.
Miro australis longipes (Garnot); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 439.
Petroica (Miro) australis longipes (Lesson, 1828) [sic]; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 61.
Petroica longipes (Garnot); Holdaway et al. 2001, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 28(2): 138, 180.
North Island: widespread in native and older exotic forests of the central North Island; Hauturu / Little Barrier and Kapiti Islands. Translocated or re-introduced to numerous islands and mainland sites, with varying success (Parlato & Armstrong 2012; Miskelly & Powlesland 2013). Found in Holocene deposits and middens at many localities, including areas well outside the present range (and, in the Far North, outside the historical range) (Checklist Committee 1990).
*Also used for P. australis rakiura
➤ Petroica australis (Sparrman)
South Island Robin | Kakaruai
South Island and many inshore islands; Stewart Island / Rakiura and its outliers.
Petroica australis australis (Sparrman)
South Island Robin | Kakaruai
Turdus australis Sparrman, 1788: Mus. Carlsonianum 3: no LXIX, pl. 69 – Dusky Sound, Fiordland.
Turdus albifrons Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(2): 882. Based on the “White-fronted Thrush” of Latham 1783, Gen. Synop. Birds 2(1): 71 – Dusky Sound, Fiordland.
Miro albifrons (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1843, in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 190.
Aplonis australis (Sparrman); G.R. Gray 1843, in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 192.
Petroica albifrons (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1845, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 7, pl. 6, fig. 2.
Turdus ochrotarsus J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 82 – Dusky Sound, Fiordland.
Muscicapa saxicolina Bonaparte, 1851: Consp. Gen. Avium 1: 300 – New Zealand.
Muscicapa albifrons (Gmelin); Ellman 1861, Zoologist 19: 7465.
Myioscopus albifrons (Gmelin); Finsch 1872, Journ. für Ornith. 20: 112.
Miro ochrotarsus (J.R. Forster); Buller 1896, Trans. Proc. N.Z. Inst. 28: 337.
Miro albifrons (Gmelin); Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 120.
Miro bulleri Sharpe, 1906: in Buller, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 123 – Karamea Saddle, north West Coast.
Miro australis bulleri Buller [sic]; Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 439.
Miro australis australis (Sparrman); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 439.
Miro australis (Sparrman); Oliver 1930, New Zealand Birds, 1st edition: 466.
Petroica (Miro) australis australis (Sparrman); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 210.
Petroica australis (Sparrman); Holdaway et al. 2001, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 28(2): 138, 180.
South Island: native and older exotic forests especially in the northern third of the island and the south-west (Fiordland); otherwise of restricted and local distribution. Present on numerous islands in Marlborough Sounds and Fiordland, including sites colonised through natural dispersal after translocation to nearby islands (Miskelly & Powlesland 2013; Miskelly, Tennyson, Edmonds et al. 2017; Miskelly, Bishop et al. 2018; Miskelly, Greene et al. 2021). Widely distributed Holocene and midden records, several outside the present range (Checklist Committee 1990).
Petroica australis rakiura C.A. Fleming
Stewart Island Robin | Toutouwai*
Petroica (Miro) australis rakiura C.A. Fleming, 1950: Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 78(1): 141 – Jacques Lees [= Jacky Lee] Island, off east coast of Stewart Island.
Miro australis rakiura (C.A. Fleming); Oliver 1955, New Zealand Birds, 2nd edition: 489.
Stewart Island / Rakiura and outliers.
*Also used for P. longipes.
Family *ALAUDIDAE Vigors: Larks
Alaudina Vigors, 1825: Zoological Journ. 2(7): 398 – Type genus Alauda Linnaeus, 1758.
Genus *Alauda Linnaeus
Alauda Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 165 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Alauda arvensis Linnaeus.
At various times, all forms of Alauda have been united as one species, or separated into two or more species.
➤ *Alauda arvensis Linnaeus
Eurasian Skylark | Kairaka
Alauda arvensis Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 165 – Europe, restricted to Uppsala, Sweden (fide Meinertzhagen 1951, Fauna Svecica: 128).
Alauda arvensis Linnaeus; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 59.
Alauda arvensis arvensis Linnaeus; Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 64.
Alauda arvensis scotica Tschusi, 1903; Niethammer 1971, Journ. für Ornith. 112(2): 205.
North Palaearctic from Europe to north Japan; migrating south to winter at lower latitudes. New Zealand: introduced on several occasions during the 1860s and 1870s (Thomson 1922). Now common from North Cape (Otou) to Stewart Island / Rakiura in open farmland, sand-dunes, tussock grasslands, and subalpine herb fields to an altitude of 1,900 m a.s.l. (breeding to at least 1,700 m a.s.l.; Child 1975b). Absent from dense forest and thick scrub; evidence of a recent reduction on the South Island West Coast (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Breeds also at Chatham Islands, and stragglers have reached the Kermadec, Snares / Tini Heke, Antipodes, Auckland Islands / Maukahuka, and Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku (Kinsky 1969; Miskelly et al. 2001a; Tennyson et al. 2002; Veitch et al. 2004; Miskelly, Elliott et al. 2020). Assigned to nominate subspecies in Checklist Committee (1970), but to A. a. scotica by Niethammer (1971); subspecies in New Zealand therefore uncertain, but probably nominate (see discussion in Schodde & Mason 1999).
Family ACROCEPHALIDAE Salvin: Reed-warblers
Acrocephalinae Salvin, 1882: Cat. Coll. Birds H.E. Strickland: 49 – Type genus Acrocephalus Naumann & Naumann, 1811.
We follow Christidis & Boles (2008) in recognising Acrocephalidae (cf. Sylviidae) for the genus Acrocephalus.
Genus Acrocephalus Naumann & Naumann
Acrocephalus Naumann & Naumann, 1811: Naturgesch. Land-Wasser-Vögel Nördl. Deutsch.: 199 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Turdus arundinaceus Linnaeus = Acrocephalus arundinaceus (Linnaeus).
➤ Acrocephalus australis (Gould)
Australian Reed-warbler
Calamoherpe australis Gould, 1838: in J. Lewin, Nat. Hist. Birds New South Wales: index to synonyms to pl. 18 – Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.
Acrocephalus australis (Gould); Schodde & Mason 1999, Directory Australian Birds. Passerines: 698.
Acrocephalus australis; Scofield 2005, Southern Bird 23: 8.
Australia. Widespread in western and eastern regions, including Tasmania; non-breeding migrant to northern Australia. Two subspecies (Schodde & Mason 1999). One New Zealand record: St Anne’s Lagoon, Cheviot, Nov. 2004 (Scofield 2005a; subspecies not known).
Family LOCUSTELLIDAE Bonaparte: Grassbirds
Locustelleae Bonaparte, 1854: Ann. Sci. Nat., Zool. Paris, 4th series 1: 118 – Type genus Locustella Kaup, 1829.
Megaluridae Blyth, 1875: Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal (new series) 43(2) (extra number): 117 – Type genus Megalurus Horsfield, 1821.
We follow Bock (1994), Alström et al. (2011), and Dickinson & Christidis (2014) in giving Locustellidae Bonaparte, 1854 priority over Megaluridae Blyth, 1875.
Genus Poodytes Cabanis
Poodytes Cabanis, 1850–1851: Mus. Heineanum 1: 42 – Type species (by original monotypy) Sphaenoaecus gramineus Gould = Poodytes gramineus (Gould).
Bowdleria Rothschild, 1896: Novit. Zool. 3: 539 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Synallaxis punctata Quoy & Gaimard = Poodytes punctatus (Quoy & Gaimard).
Eremiornis North, 1900: Vict. Nat. 17: 79 – Type species (by original monotypy) Eremiornis carteri North = Poodytes carteri (North).
We follow Dickinson & Christidis (2014) and Alström et al. (2018) in synonymising Bowdleria and Eremiornis with Poodytes. The Chatham Islands species is very distinctive morphologically. The status (species versus subspecies) of the morphologically more homogeneous allopatric mainland populations is problematic. Holdaway et al. (2001) and del Hoyo & Collar (2016) considered the Snares Islands / Tini Heke population (P. p. caudata) to be a full species, and Holdaway et al. (2001) suggested that the Codfish Island (Whenua Hou) population (B. p. wilsoni) might be likewise. They are all retained as one species here pending further genetic and morphological comparisons. Cabanis (1850–51) did not provide an etymology for Poodytes, but it is likely based on Greek ‘po’= grass, and ‘dyt’ = a burrower or diver.
➤ Poodytes punctatus (Quoy & Gaimard)
Fernbird | Mātātā
New Zealand. Originally widespread in swamp, fernland, and low scrub on North Island, South Island, Stewart Island, and a few offshore islands; less abundant now. Five subspecies recognised.
Poodytes punctatus vealeae (Kemp)
North Island Fernbird | Koroātito
Bowdleria punctata vealeae Kemp, 1912: Austral Avian Rec. 1: 124 – Umawera, Hokianga, Northland.
Megalurus punctatus vealeae (Kemp); Dickinson 2003, Complete Checklist Birds World: 577.
Poodytes punctatus vealeae (Kemp); Dickinson & Christidis 2014, Complete Checklist Birds World 2: 468.
Now of limited range, restricted to particular areas of residual swampland and scrubland and, in some localities, scrub adjacent to shorelines. Still fairly plentiful in north and central North Island, but rare in the south and east (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Present on Great Barrier Island / Aotea; translocated to Tiritiri Matangi Island (2001) and Mana Island (2019). Formerly present on Manawatāwhi / Great Island in the Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, and the Aldermen Islands (Turbott & Buddle 1948; Miskelly 2013). Holocene and midden records from widely distributed sites (Checklist Committee 1990).
Poodytes punctatus punctatus (Quoy & Gaimard)
South Island Fernbird | Mātātā
Synallaxis punctata Quoy & Gaimard, 1830: in Dumont d’Urville, Voyage Astrolabe Zool. 1: 225 – Tasman Bay.
Sphenoeacus punctatus (Quoy & Gaimard); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 220.
Sphenoeacus fulvus G.R. Gray, 1862: Ibis 4: 221 – “New Zealand”, restricted to Tasman Bay.
Megalurus fulvus (G.R. Gray); G.R. Gray 1869, Hand-list Birds 1: 206.
Bowdleria punctata (Quoy & Gaimard); Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 131.
Bowdleria fulva (G.R. Gray); Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 131.
Bowdleria punctata punctata (Quoy & Gaimard); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 62.
Megalurus punctatus (Quoy & Gaimard); Sibley & Monroe 1990, Distr. and Taxon. Birds of the World: 625.
Poodytes punctatus punctatus (Quoy & Gaimard); Dickinson & Christidis 2014, Complete Checklist Birds World 2: 468.
Now restricted, as in North Island, to residual areas of suitable habitat, especially in Nelson, Westland, Otago, and Southland; rare in the east north of Dunedin (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Holocene and midden records from a few sites (Checklist Committee 1990).
Poodytes punctatus stewartianus (Oliver)
Stewart Island Fernbird | Mātā*
Bowdleria punctata stewartiana Oliver, 1930: New Zealand Birds, 1st edition: 451 – Stewart Island, restricted to Kundy Island (fide Miskelly 2012, Notornis 59: 10).
Bowdleria punctata stewartiae Oliver; Stead 1936, Trans. Proc. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 66: 312. Unjustified emendation.
Bowdleria punctata insularis Stead, 1936: Trans. Proc. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 66: 312 – Stewart Island, restricted to Kundy Island (fide Miskelly 2012, Notornis 59: 10).
Megalurus punctatus stewartianus (Oliver); Dickinson 2003, Complete Checklist Birds World: 577.
Poodytes punctatus stewartianus (Oliver); Dickinson & Christidis 2014, Complete Checklist Birds World 2: 468.
Stewart Island / Rakiura, and outliers except Codfish Island / Whenua Hou. The type population died out after 1956, following the introduction of weka Gallirallus australis to Kundy Island; the fernbirds now on Kundy Island were reintroduced from nearby Big Island in 1995 (Miskelly 2012a).
*Used for several subspecies of fernbird
Poodytes punctatus wilsoni (Stead)
Codfish Island Fernbird | Mātā*
Bowdleria punctata wilsoni Stead, 1936: Trans. Proc. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 66: 312 – Codfish Island.
Megalurus punctatus wilsoni (Stead); Dickinson 2003, Complete Checklist Birds World: 577.
Poodytes punctatus wilsoni (Stead); Dickinson & Christidis 2014, Complete Checklist Birds World 2: 468.
Codfish Island / Whenua Hou, west of Stewart Island / Rakiura. Introduced to Putauhinu Island in 1997–98 (McClelland 2002b).
*Used for several subspecies of fernbird
Poodytes punctatus caudatus (Buller)
Snares Island Fernbird | Mātā*
Sphenoeacus fulvus; Finsch 1888, Ibis 6 (5th series): 308. Not Sphenoeacus fulvus G.R. Gray, 1862.
Sphenoeacus caudatus Buller, 1894: Ibis 6 (6th series): 523 – Snares Islands.
Bowdleria caudata (Buller); Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 132.
Bowdleria punctata caudata (Buller); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 62.
Megalurus punctatus caudatus (Buller); Dickinson 2003, Complete Checklist Birds World: 577.
Poodytes punctatus caudatus (Buller); Dickinson & Christidis 2014, Complete Checklist Birds World 2: 468.
Poodytes caudatus (Buller); del Hoyo & Collar 2016, Illustrated Checklist Birds World 2: 444.
The most abundant land-bird on the Snares Islands / Tini Heke, occupying all vegetated habitats on North East Island, Broughton Island and Alert Stack (Miskelly et al. 2001a). Retained here as a subspecies, but large size and more uniform brown coloration may justify recognition as a species (Holdaway et al. 2001; del Hoyo & Collar 2016).
*Used for several subspecies of fernbird
➤ †Poodytes rufescens (Buller)
Chatham Island Fernbird
Sphenoeacus rufescens Buller, 1869: Ibis 5 (new series): 38 – Chatham Islands.
Megalurus rufescens (Buller); G.R. Gray 1869, Hand-list Birds 1: 206.
Bowdleria rufescens (Buller); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 445.
Bowdleria punctata rufescens (Buller); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 62.
Megalurus punctatus rufescens (Buller); Dickinson 2003, Complete Checklist Birds World: 577.
Poodytes punctatus rufescens (Buller); Dickinson & Christidis 2014, Complete Checklist Birds World 2: 468.
Poodytes rufescens (Buller); del Hoyo & Collar 2016, Illustrated Checklist Birds World 2: 444.
The osteology of P. rufescens (see Olson 1990), together with evidence from plumage characteristics, indicate that it is specifically distinct from P. punctatus. Estimated to have split from P. punctatus c. 2.6 million years ago (Alström et al. 2018). Extinct since about 1892 (Tennyson & Millener 1994). Formerly on Chatham, Pitt, and Mangere Islands. Recorded in Holocene deposits and in midden sites (Checklist Committee 1990; Tennyson & Millener 1994; Millener 1999).
Family HIRUNDINIDAE Rafinesque: Swallows and Martins
Hirundia Rafinesque, 1815: Analyse de la Nature: 68 – Type genus Hirundo Linnaeus, 1758.
Taxonomy and order of species follows Schodde & Mason (1999).
Genus Hirundo Linnaeus
Hirundo Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 191 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Hirundo rustica Linnaeus.
➤ Hirundo neoxena Gould
Welcome Swallow
Australia including Tasmania; breeding in the south and extending north and inland during the winter. Also Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands. Self-introduced to New Zealand. Two subspecies (eastern and western) recognised in Australia. See Schodde & Mason (1999) for separation of this species from H. tahitica (south-east Asia, New Guinea, Melanesia, Polynesia except New Zealand).
Hirundo neoxena neoxena Gould
Welcome Swallow | Warou
Hirundo neoxena Gould, 1842: Birds of Australia 9: pl. 13 – “the whole southern portions of Australia”.
Hirundo neoxena Gould; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 59.
Hirundo tahitica neoxena Gould; Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 64.
Hirundo neoxena neoxena Gould; Schodde & Mason 1999, Directory Australian Birds. Passerines: 669.
South-east Australia including Tasmania; a partial migrant within Australia, many staying in winter in the south while others move north. Recent colonist in New Zealand; at first recorded only as a rare straggler (Northland, 1920; Auckland Islands / Maukahuka, 1943; Awhitu peninsula, 1944; Stewart Island / Rakiura, 1953; Farewell Spit, 1955). First recorded breeding near Awanui, Northland, in 1958 (Michie 1959). By 1965, common throughout Northland, spreading elsewhere in the North Island and breeding in the South Island (Turbott 1965; Edgar 1966). Now common throughout the North Island and most of the South Island except the south-west (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Common on Chatham Islands having bred there since c. 1976 (Aikman & Miskelly 2004). Straggler to Snares Islands / Tini Heke; first recorded 1981 (Miskelly et al. 2001a); Auckland Islands / Maukahuka (Miskelly, Elliott et al. 2020); and Campbell Island; first recorded 1946 (Bailey & Sorensen 1962). Recorded since 1958 from Kermadec Islands / Rangitāhua. First recorded at Norfolk Island in 1969 (Schodde et al. 1983).
Genus Petrochelidon Cabanis
Petrochelidon Cabanis, 1850: Mus. Heineanum 1: 47 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Hirundo melanogaster Swainson = Petrochelidon pyrrhonota (Vieillot).
Hylochelidon Gould, 1865: Handb. Birds Australia 1: 111 – Type species (by original designation) Hirundo nigricans Vieillot = Petrochelidon nigricans (Vieillot).
➤ Petrochelidon ariel (Gould)
Fairy Martin
Collocalia Ariel Gould, 1842: Birds of Australia 9: pl. 15 – New South Wales, Australia.
Hirundo ariel (Gould); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 197.
Petrochelidon ariel (Gould); Schodde & Mason 1999, Directory Australian Birds. Passerines: 673.
Throughout mainland Australia; migratory in the south. Straggler to Tasmania and New Guinea. First recorded in New Zealand when nests believed to be of this species were found at Te Hopai, southern Wairarapa, in 1978 (B. Bell 1984). Subsequent sight records: near base of Farewell Spit, Nov. 1982; Totaranui, Nelson, Feb. 1983 (B. Bell 1984); Lake Holm Farm, Taieri Plain, 1981–84 (Nevill 1984); Cape Reinga, Nov. 1983 (Riddell & Taylor 1984); Leigh, Nov. 1984; Papakura, Jan. 1985 (Fennell 1985); between Te Paki and Cape Reinga (Te Rerengawairua), Aug. 2001 (Medway 2002d); Rahotu, Cape Egmont, Sep. 2001 (Medway 2001d); Tapora, Kaipara Harbour, Jul. 2004 (Scofield 2005a); Snares Islands / Tini Heke, Nov. 2004 (Scofield 2005a, 2006); and Tawharanui, Mar. 2008 (Miskelly et al. 2011).
➤ Petrochelidon nigricans (Vieillot)
Tree Martin
Hirundo nigricans Vieillot, 1817: Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd. 14: 523 – “New Holland”, error for Hobart, Tasmania (fide Mathews 1913, Austral Avian Rec. 2: 65).
Hylochelidon nigricans; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 73.
Hylochelidon nigricans (Vieillot); Buller 1872 (Jun.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 1st edition (part 2): 141.
Petrochelida [sic] nigricans (Vieillot); Hutton 1904, Index Faunae N.Z.: 37.
Petrochelidon nigricans (Vieillot); Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 113.
Hylochelidon nigricans nigricans (Vieillot); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 59.
Hirundo nigricans nigricans (Vieillot); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 197.
The population breeding in Tasmania (P. n. nigricans) migrates to the eastern Australian mainland. Another population breeding throughout southern Australia (P. n. neglecta) also migrates north. The differentiation is between the mainland and Tasmanian populations rather than eastern and western populations (Schodde & Mason 1999). Also present on Lesser Sunda Islands and Timor (P. n. timoriensis). A returning Tasmanian bird overshot to Macquarie Island (Schodde & Mason 1999). Which subspecies reaches New Zealand needs further investigation. Vagrant to New Zealand, both singly and in small flocks, mainly in autumn (A. Wright 1960; Nevill 1984; Medway 2000a): Hicks Bay; Mahia; Cape Campbell; Collingwood; Wakapuaka; Blenheim; Mokihinui; Christchurch; Oamaru; Featherston (May to Sep. 1946); Farewell Spit, Jan. 1960, Jan. 1988, Dec. 2019; Punakaiki River estuary, Jun. 1977; Miranda, Feb. 1979; Vernon Lagoons, Apr. 1980; Nelson, Nov. 1983; Lake Holm Farm, Taieri Plain, 1981–84; Eglinton Valley, 1983; Pukete, Hamilton, Feb. 1992; Bromley, Christchurch, Feb. 2017; Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora, Feb. 2020; Wainono Lagoon, South Canterbury, Oct. 2020. May have nested at Oamaru around 1893 (Buller 1895; Oliver 1955). Recorded on Snares Islands / Tini Heke 1969, 1982, and 1984 (Warham & Keeley 1969; Miskelly et al. 2001a; Miskelly, Crossland et al. 2017). One record from Chatham Islands (Miskelly et al. 2006).
Family ZOSTEROPIDAE Bonaparte: White-eyes
Zosteropinae Bonaparte, 1853: Compt. Rend. Séa. Acad. Sci., Paris 37: 644 – Type genus Zosterops Vigors & Horsfield, 1827.
Christidis & Boles (2008) moved Zosterops to the Timaliidae (true babblers) on the strength of a study by Cibois (2003). However, we follow Dickinson & Christidis (2014), Clements et al. (2019), Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International (2020), and F. Gill et al. (2021) in recognising Zosteropidae as a separate family.
Genus Zosterops Vigors & Horsfield
Zosterops Vigors & Horsfield, 1827: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 15: 234 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Motacilla maderaspatana Linnaeus = Zosterops maderaspatana (Linnaeus).
Nesozosterops Mathews, 1912: Novit. Zool. 18(3): 451 – Type species (by original designation) Zosterops strenuus Gould, 1855.
➤ Zosterops lateralis (Latham)
Silvereye
Coastal Australia (from northern Queensland to the western tip of Western Australia), Tasmania, and south-west Pacific islands (New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, Vanuatu, Banks Islands, Fiji). Recent colonist of Norfolk Island and New Zealand. Schodde & Mason (1999) recognised nine subspecies in Australia with some zones of intergradation between abutting taxa.
Zosterops lateralis lateralis (Latham)
Silvereye | Tauhou
Sylvia lateralis Latham, 1801: Index Ornith. Suppl.: lv – Tasmania, Australia.
Zosterops dorsalis Vigors & Horsfield, 1827: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 15: 235 – New South Wales, Australia.
Zosterops dorsalis Vigors & Horsfield; Hutton 1870, Ibis 6 (new series): 398.
Zosterops lateralis Latham [sic]; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 73.
Zosterops lateralis (Latham); Buller 1872 (Jun.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 1st edition (part 2): 80.
Zosterops caerulescens; Buller 1888 (Jan.), History of the Birds of N.Z., 2nd edition 1 (part 3): 77. Not Motacilla caerulescens Latham, 1801 = Rhipidura albiscapa alisteri Mathews, 1911.
Zosterops lateralis tasmanica Mathews, 1912: Novit. Zool. 18(3): 385 – Tasmania, Australia.
Zosterops lateralis tasmanica Mathews; Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 449.
Zosterops lateralis investigator Mathews, 1923: Birds Australia. 11: 153 – northern North Island, New Zealand.
Zosterops halmaturina tasmanica Mathews; Oliver 1930, New Zealand Birds, 1st edition: 479.
Zosterops halmaturina Campbell, 1906; Stead 1932, Life Histories New Zealand Birds: 139.
Zosterops lateralis (Latham) subspecies; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 65.
Zosterops lateralis lateralis (Latham); Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 69.
Breeds in Tasmania; migrates north to coastal eastern Australia from South Australia to Queensland. New Zealand: apparently colonised permanently by silvereyes of this race in 1856, when large numbers were first recorded (Oliver 1955); before this, noticed by explorers and settlers as early as 1832 (Milford Sound / Piopiotahi) and 1851 (Otago). The bird had not been known to the Māori, and was called tauhou (meaning “stranger”). Now one of New Zealand’s commonest non-introduced passerines, found throughout in orchards, gardens, exotic plantations, and in native forest and scrub. Has reached the Kermadec, Chatham, Snares / Tini Heke, Auckland / Maukahuka, Antipodes, Campbell / Motu Ihupuku, and Macquarie Islands. Colonised Norfolk Island (possibly from New Zealand) in 1904; now abundant and widespread, more so than the two endemic species of Zosterops there (Schodde et al. 1983; J. Moore 1999).
Family *STURNIDAE Rafinesque: Starlings and Mynas
Sturnidia Rafinesque, 1815: Analyse de la Nature: 68 – Type genus Sturnus Linnaeus, 1758.
Aplonis zelandica (Quoy & Gaimard, 1830) and A. obscura (du Bus de Gisignies, 1839) were described in error as originating from New Zealand (G.R. Gray 1862: 227; Buller 1876b). The former is from Vanikoro, Santa Cruz Islands and the latter – a junior synonym of Aplonis striata (Gmelin, 1788) (see E. Mayr 1934) – is from New Caledonia (Amadon 1962: 76, 78).
Genus *Sturnus Linnaeus
Sturnus Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 167 – Type species (by tautonymy) Sturnus = Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus.
➤ *Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus
Common Starling | Tāringi
Europe and central and south-west Asia; migrates to Spain, North Africa, Iran, and north India.
*Sturnus vulgaris vulgaris Linnaeus
Common Starling | Tāringi
Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 167 – Sweden.
Sturnus vulgaris vulgaris Linnaeus; Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 71.
Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 222.
Introduced to New Zealand. Now ubiquitous over much of the country, especially in the North Island and eastern South Island; less evident in the western South Island and on Stewart Island / Rakiura (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Also recorded from the Kermadec, Chatham, Snares / Tini Heke, Auckland / Maukahuka, Antipodes, Campbell / Motu Ihupuku, Bounty, and Macquarie Islands (Higgins et al. 2006). Self-introduced to Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands. Assigned to nominate subspecies by Niethammer (1971), with agreement by Schodde & Mason (1999).
Genus *Acridotheres Vieillot
Acridotheres Vieillot, 1816: Analyse Nouv. Ornith. Elem.: 42 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Paradisea tristis Linnaeus = Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus).
Christidis & Boles (2008) placed the common myna in Sturnus as S. tristis. However, we follow Dickinson & Christidis (2014), Clements et al. (2019), Chesser et al. (2020), Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International (2020), and F. Gill et al. (2021) in retaining the genus Acridotheres.
➤ *Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus)
Common Myna | Maina
Paradisea tristis Linnaeus, 1766: Syst. Nat., 12th edition 1: 167 – “Philippines”, probably error for Pondicherry, India (fide Stresemann 1952, Ibis 94(3): 515).
Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 66.
Afghanistan, Turkistan, India, Andamans, Sri Lanka; as the result of recent extensions of range or introductions has reached much of south-east Asia. Widely introduced and established (tropical islands in all oceans, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa). New Zealand: introduced to both North and South Islands during the 1870s. Persisted in the South Island (Nelson, Christchurch, and Dunedin) only until about 1890 (Thomson 1922). In the North Island they became common in Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, and southern parts of the Auckland provincial area, and during the late 1940s and early 1950s they spread almost explosively. They remain common in the northern half of the North Island south to Taranaki, Whanganui, and southern Hawke’s Bay (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Odd birds appear sporadically further south. Mynas have spread to offshore islands, including Poor Knights Islands. Vagrant on Norfolk Island; recorded once, in Sep. 1971 (J. Moore 1981). The subspecies in New Zealand is not confirmed but is probably the nominate one, as in Australia (Schodde & Mason 1999).
Family *TURDIDAE Rafinesque: Thrushes
Turdinia Rafinesque, 1815: Analyse de la Nature: 67 – Type genus Turdus Linnaeus, 1758.
We follow Christidis & Boles (2008) in the use of Turdidae. Order of species follows Schodde & Mason (1999).
Genus *Turdus Linnaeus
Turdus Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 168 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Turdus viscivorus Linnaeus.
Merula Leach, 1816: Syst. Cat. Specimens Mamm. Birds Brit. Museum: 20 – Type species (by monotypy) Merula nigra Leach = Turdus merula Linnaeus.
Planesticus Bonaparte, 1854: Compt. Rend. Séa. Acad. Sci., Paris 38: 3 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Turdus lereboulleti Bonaparte = Turdus jamaicensis Gmelin.
➤ *Turdus merula Linnaeus
Eurasian Blackbird | Manu Pango
Europe, North Africa, western and southern Asia, Indian subcontinent (except south-west), Sri Lanka, southern China. Migratory in northern part of its range and in the Far East.
*Turdus merula merula Linnaeus
Eurasian Blackbird | Manu Pango
Turdus Merula Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 170 – Europe, restricted to Sweden (fide Hartert 1910, Vögel Pal. Fauna 1: 665).
Merula merula (Linnaeus); A. Hamilton 1909, Hand-list Birds New Zealand: 18.
Turdus merula Linnaeus; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 63.
Turdus merula merula Linnaeus; Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 69.
New Zealand: introduced to both North and South Islands several times during 1860s and 1870s. Now widespread from Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands to Stewart Island / Rakiura. Has successfully colonised the Kermadec, Chatham, Snares / Tini Heke, Auckland / Maukahuka, and Campbell / Motu Ihupuku Islands, and strays have reached Antipodes Island. Common in suburban gardens, hedgerows, orchards, plantations, and scrub, and widespread in native forest, reaching at least 1500 m a.s.l. By far the most widespread species reported during the 1969–79 and 1999–2004 surveys for the New Zealand bird distribution atlases (Bull et al. 1985; C. Robertson et al. 2007). Introduced to Norfolk Island in the first half of the 20th Century, where now very common and widespread (Schodde et al. 1983). Assigned to nominate subspecies by Checklist Committee (1970) and Niethammer (1971), with agreement by Schodde & Mason (1999).
➤ *Turdus philomelos Brehm
Song Thrush | Manu-kai-hua-rakau
Turdus musicus Linnaeus, 1766: Syst. Nat., 12th edition 1: 292 – Europe. Suppressed and invalid (fide ICZN 1959, Opinion 551. Opinions & Declarations 20: 199).
Turdus Ericetorum Turton, 1807: British Fauna 1: 35 – Great Britain, restricted to North Kent, England (fide Clancey 1943, Ibis 85: 90). Suppressed and invalid (fide ICZN 1956, Opinion 405. Opinions & Declarations 13: 107).
Turdus philomelos Brehm, 1831: Handb. Naturgesch. Vög. Deutschl.: 382 – central Germany.
Turdus musicus Linnaeus; Hutton 1871, Cat. Birds N.Z.: 56.
Turdus philomelus Brehm; Oliver 1930, New Zealand Birds, 1st edition: 514. Unjustified emendation.
Turdus ericetorum Turton; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 63.
Turdus philomelos clarkei Hartert, 1909; Niethammer 1971, Journ. für Ornith. 112(2): 223.
Turdus philomelos Brehm; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 202.
Europe, west and central Asia. Migratory in northern part of range; winters to North Africa and south Asia. New Zealand: introduced to both the North and South Islands several times during the 1860s and 1870s. Now widespread from North Cape (Otou) to Stewart Island / Rakiura (C. Robertson et al. 2007) and has spread to the Kermadec, Chatham, Snares / Tini Heke, Antipodes, Auckland / Maukahuka, Campbell / Motu Ihupuku, and Macquarie Islands, breeding on all except Antipodes and Macquarie. Common in gardens, hedgerows, and orchards; especially common along farmland hedgerows, but scarce in native forest. Norfolk Island: introduced or self-introduced (from New Zealand); first noted in 1913 and now moderately common (Schodde et al. 1983). New Zealand birds were assigned to subspecies T. ph. clarkei Hartert, 1909 by Niethammer (1971) and in the amendments of Checklist Committee (1980), but see Schodde & Mason (1999) for doubts about subspecific status of Australian birds.
Family *PRUNELLIDAE Richmond: Accentors
Prunellidae Richmond, 1909: Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 35: 585 – Type genus Prunella Vieillot, 1816.
Genus *Prunella Vieillot
Accentor Bechstein, 1802: Ornith. Taschenb. Deutschland 1: 191 – Motacilla alpina Gmelin = Prunella collaris (Scopoli). Junior homonym of Accentor Bechstein, 1797.
Prunella Vieillot, 1816: Analyse Nouv. Ornith. Elem.: 43 – Type species (by monotypy) “Fauvette de haie” Buffon = Prunella modularis (Linnaeus).
➤ *Prunella modularis (Linnaeus)
Dunnock
Motacilla modularis Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 184 – Europe, restricted to Sweden (fide Hartert 1910, Vögel Pal. Fauna 1: 772).
Accentor modularis (Linnaeus); Thomson 1922, Naturalisation Animals Plants New Zealand: 148.
Prunella modularis occidentalis (Hartert, 1910); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 63.
Prunella modularis (Linnaeus); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 200.
Europe and western Asia; wintering to Mediterranean and North Africa. New Zealand: introduced to both North and South Islands on several occasions between 1868 and 1882. Now widespread from Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands to Stewart Island / Rakiura. Breeding at Chatham Islands, Auckland Islands / Maukahuka, Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku, and Antipodes Islands; vagrant to Snares Islands / Tini Heke (Miskelly et al. 2001a; Checklist Committee 2010; Miskelly, Elliott et al. 2020). A common garden bird in Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, but rare in urban Auckland. Assigned to subspecies P. m. occidentalis (Hartert, 1910) by Checklist Committee (1970) and Niethammer (1971), but this requires critical evaluation.
Family *PASSERIDAE Rafinesque: Old World Sparrows
Passernia Rafinesque, 1815: Analyse de la Nature: 68 – Type genus Passer Brisson, 1760.
We follow Schodde & Mason (1999) and Christidis & Boles (2008) in placing Passer in a more narrowly defined Passeridae, rather than in the Ploceidae as in Checklist Committee (1990).
Genus *Passer Brisson
Passer Brisson, 1760: Ornithologie 1: 36 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Fringilla domestica Linnaeus = Passer domesticus (Linnaeus).
➤ *Passer domesticus (Linnaeus)
House Sparrow | Tiu
Europe and Asia (except eastern and south-east Asia), Nile Valley, north-west Africa. Essentially sedentary.
*Passer domesticus domesticus (Linnaeus)
House Sparrow | Tiu
Fringilla domestica Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 183 – Sweden.
Passer domesticus (Linnaeus); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 66.
Passer domesticus domesticus (Linnaeus); Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 71.
New Zealand: introduced to both North and South Islands on several occasions between 1866 and 1871. Now ubiquitous over much of New Zealand, especially in the North Island and eastern South Island; less evident in the western South Island and on Stewart Island / Rakiura (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Also on the Chatham Islands. Vagrant to Snares / Tini Heke, Auckland / Maukahuka, Campbell / Motu Ihupuku, and Antipodes Islands. Common on Norfolk Island, but whether introduced or self-introduced, and whether from Australian or New Zealand populations, is not known (Schodde et al. 1983). Subspecies in New Zealand and Norfolk Island is probably nominate (Checklist Committee 1970; Niethammer 1971; Schodde & Mason 1999: 730).
Family MOTACILLIDAE Vigors: Pipits and Wagtails
Motacillina Vigors, 1825: Zoological Journ. 2(7): 396 – Type genus Motacilla Linnaeus, 1758.
Genus Anthus Bechstein
Anthus Bechstein, 1805: Gemein. Nat. Deutschl. 2: 247, 302, 465 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Alauda pratensis Linnaeus = Anthus pratensis (Linnaeus).
Corydalla Vigors, 1825: Zoological Journ. 2(7): 397 – Type species (by original designation) Anthus Richardi Vieillot.
Until recently, pipit populations widely distributed in Africa, Eurasia (except the north where a winter vagrant), and south-east through Indonesia to Australia and New Zealand were frequently united as one species (Richard’s pipit, Anthus novaeseelandiae). Multiple species (forming a superspecies) are now recognised (Dickinson & Christidis 2014). Schodde & Mason (1999: 739) recognised the Australian pipit A. australis Vieillot, 1818 as a species distinct from the New Zealand form, which we follow. However, Christidis & Boles (2008) preferred to unite Australian, New Zealand, and New Guinean birds as A. novaeseelandiae. There are a few records of pipits straggling to Norfolk Island (J. Moore 1999), but it is not known whether these are from Australia or New Zealand.
➤ Anthus novaeseelandiae (Gmelin)
New Zealand Pipit | Pīhoihoi
New Zealand and outlying islands. Foggo et al. (1997) considered allozyme loci and morphometric data from populations in the New Zealand area and found a two-way separation between mainland and other (insular) populations. However, in the absence of comparisons with Australian and other foreign populations, they refrained from any taxonomic recommendations. Without further clarification we retain the status quo for New Zealand populations as in Checklist Committee (1990, 2010).
Anthus novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae (Gmelin)
New Zealand Pipit | Pīhoihoi
Alauda novae Seelandiae Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(2): 799. Based on the “New-Zealand Lark” of Latham 1783, Gen. Synop. Birds 2: 384, pl. 21 – Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough.
Anthus novae zealandiae (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1844, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds 1(3): 4. Unjustified emendation.
Alauda littorea J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 90 – South Island.
Anthus grayi Bonaparte, 1850: Consp. Gen. Avium 1: 249 – New Zealand.
Corydalla novae zealandiae (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1869, Hand-list Birds 1: 253. Unjustified emendation.
Anthus Novae Zelandiae Gmelin [sic]; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 73. Unjustified emendation.
Anthus novae-zealandiae (Gmelin); Travers 1883, Trans. Proc. N.Z. Inst. 15: 186. Unjustified emendation.
Anthus novaezealandiae reischeki Lorenz-Liburnau, 1902: Ann. k.-k. Naturhist. Hofmus. Wien 17: 308 – Little Barrier Island and Waikato. Unjustified emendation.
Anthus novae-seelandiae (Gmelin); Mathews 1930, Emu 29: 286.
Anthus novaeseelandiae taupoensis Mathews, 1930: Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 50: 42 – Lake Taupo.
Anthus novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae (Gmelin); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 64. In part.
Anthus novaeseelandiae (Gmelin); Holdaway et al. 2001, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 28(2): 137, 179.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island / Rakiura, and offshore islands; a straggler to the Kermadec Islands / Rangitāhua and Snares Islands / Tini Heke. No recent records from the Kermadecs (Veitch et al. 2004). Originally probably restricted to mountain and lowland tussock grasslands, riverbeds and the coastal zone, but with European settlement its range increased greatly; now avoids pure pasture land, but still fairly common in rougher farmland and open country generally (including alpine). Widely distributed in Holocene deposits and middens in the North and South Islands, and Stewart Island / Rakiura (Checklist Committee 1990).
Anthus novaeseelandiae chathamensis Lorenz-Liburnau
Chatham Island Pipit
Anthus novaezealandiae chathamensis Lorenz-Liburnau, 1902: Ann. k.-k. Naturhist. Hofmus. Wien 17: 309 – Chatham Islands. Unjustified emendation.
Anthus novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae (Gmelin); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 64. In part.
Anthus novaeseelandiae chathamensis Lorenz-Liburnau; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 198.
Anthus chathamensis Lorenz-Liburnau; Holdaway et al. 2001, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 28(2): 174, 179.
Chatham Islands: common throughout. Also in Holocene deposits and middens (Checklist Committee 1990).
Anthus novaeseelandiae aucklandicus G.R. Gray
Auckland Island Pipit
Anthus aucklandicus G.R. Gray, 1862: Ibis 4: 224 – Auckland Islands.
Corydalla aucklandica (G.R. Gray); G.R. Gray 1869, Hand-list Birds 1: 253.
Anthus novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae (Gmelin); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 64. In part.
Anthus novaeseelandiae aucklandicus G.R. Gray; Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 65.
Anthus aucklandicus G.R. Gray; Holdaway et al. 2001, New Zealand Journ. Zool. 28(2): 179.
Auckland Islands / Maukahuka and Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku. At Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku, restricted to small offshore islands when rats were present on the main island, but recolonised there following eradication of rats (D. Thompson et al. 2005). Three Holocene bones found on Enderby Island, Auckland Islands / Maukahuka (Tennyson 2020a).
Anthus novaeseelandiae steindachneri Reischek
Antipodes Island Pipit
Anthus steindachneri Reischek, 1889: Trans. N.Z. Inst. 21: 388 – Antipodes Islands.
Anthus novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae (Gmelin); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 64. In part.
Anthus novaeseelandiae steindachneri Reischek; Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 65.
Antipodes Islands.
Family *FRINGILLIDAE Leach: Finches, Euphonias, and Hawai’ian Honeycreepers
Subfamily *FRINGILLINAE Leach: Chaffinches
Fringilladae Leach, 1819: Eleventh room. In Synopsis Contents British Museum 15th edition, London: 65 – Type genus Fringilla Linnaeus, 1758.
Genus *Fringilla Linnaeus
Fringilla Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 179 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus.
➤ *Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus
Chaffinch | Pahirini
Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 179 – Sweden.
Fringilla caelebs [sic] Linnaeus; A. Hamilton 1909, Hand-list Birds New Zealand: 18.
Fringilla coelebs; Thomson 1922, Naturalisation Animals Plants New Zealand: 170.
Fringilla coelebs gengleri Kleinschmidt, 1909; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 65.
Fringilla coelebs coelebs Linnaeus; E. Mayr 1968, in Peters Check-list Birds World 14: 204.
Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 218.
Europe, west and central Asia, and north-west Africa; northern populations migratory. New Zealand: introduced on several occasions during the 1860s and 1870s to both the North and South Islands. Now the second-most widely distributed bird, common throughout the three main islands of New Zealand except for South Island mountain tops (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Has spread to the Chatham, Snares / Tini Heke, Auckland / Maukahuka, and Campbell / Motu Ihupuku Islands. Recorded once at both the Kermadec and Antipodes Islands (Tennyson et al. 2002; Veitch et al. 2004). Common in urban areas, farmland, orchards, scrub lands, pine forests and, to a lesser extent, native forest. Assignment to the subspecies F. c. gengleri in Checklist Committee (1970) and by Niethammer (1971) requires critical evaluation.
Subfamily *CARDUELINAE Vigors: Cardueline Finches
Carduelina Vigors, 1825: Zoological Journ. 2(7): 398 – Carduelis Brisson, 1760.
Generic placement and order of species follows Zuccon et al. (2012) and Dickinson & Christidis (2014).
Genus *Chloris Cuvier
Chloris Cuvier, 1800: Lecons Anat. Comp. 1: pl. 2 – Type species (by tautonymy) Loxia chloris Linnaeus = Chloris chloris (Linnaeus).
Ligurinus Koch, 1816: Syst. Baierischen Zool. 1: 229 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Loxia chloris Linnaeus = Chloris chloris (Linnaeus).
➤ *Chloris chloris (Linnaeus)
European Greenfinch
Loxia chloris Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 174 – Europe, restricted to Sweden (fide Hartert 1903, Vögel Pal. Fauna: 61).
Fringilla chloris (Linnaeus); Hutton 1871, Cat. Birds N.Z.: 60.
Ligurinus chloris; Thomson 1922, Naturalisation Animals Plants New Zealand: 174.
Chloris chloris (Linnaeus); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 65.
Carduelis chloris chloris (Linnaeus); Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 71.
Carduelis chloris aurantiiventris (Cabanis, 1851); Niethammer 1971, Journ. für Ornith. 112(2): 223.
Carduelis chloris (Linnaeus); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 219.
Europe, south-west Asia, North Africa; northern populations partly migratory. New Zealand: introduced several times during the 1860s. Now common throughout much of the country, but least evident in parts of the central North Island, and along the western South Island (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Present on Stewart Island / Rakiura and the Chatham Islands; straggler to Snares Islands / Tini Heke, Auckland Islands / Maukahuka, Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku, and Kermadec Islands / Rangitāhua. Particularly favours farmland, edges of pine plantations, orchards, and large gardens, but winter flocks range over open paddocks and along seashores. Widespread but uncommon on Norfolk Island (Schodde et al. 1983) where self-introduced from Australia or New Zealand. The subspecies of New Zealand birds is uncertain; they were assigned to the nominate race in Checklist Committee (1970), and to C. c. aurantiiventris (Cabanis) by Niethammer (1971); see also discussion in Schodde & Mason (1999: 777).
Genus *Acanthis Borkhausen
Acanthis Borkhausen, 1797: Deutsche Fauna 1: 248 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Fringilla linaria Linnaeus = Acanthis flammea (Linnaeus).
➤ *Acanthis flammea (Linnaeus)
Common Redpoll
Fringilla flammea Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 182 – Europe, restricted to Norrland, Sweden (fide Hartert 1903, Vögel Pal. Fauna: 77).
Fringilla linaria Linnaeus, 1766: Syst. Nat., 12th edition 1: 322 – Europe.
Fringilla linaria Linnaeus; Hutton 1871, Cat. Birds N.Z.: 61.
Linota rufescens; Thomson 1922, Naturalisation Animals Plants New Zealand: 172. Not Linaria rufescens Vieillot, 1816.
Acanthis cabaret (Statius Müller, 1776); Oliver 1930, New Zealand Birds, 1st edition: 509.
Carduelis flammea cabaret (Statius Müller); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 65.
Acanthis flammea cabaret (Statius Müller); Paynter 1968, in Peters Check-list Birds World 14: 252.
Acanthis flammea (Linnaeus); Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 71.
Carduelis flammea (Linnaeus); Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 220.
Northern Eurasia and North America. Partial migrant; winters to southern Europe and Asia, and northern United States. Some authorities in Europe (Sangster et al. 1999; Sangster, Knox et al. 2002) and North America (R.C. Banks et al. 2002) proposed that two species should be recognised – lesser redpoll A. cabaret (monotypic) and common redpoll A. flammea (polytypic) – based on behavioural data (Lifjeld & Bjerke 1996) and morphological data and interpretation (Knox et al. 2001). However, a subsequent study (Ottvall et al. 2002) failed to show significant differences between the mtDNA of the taxa.
New Zealand: introduced to both North and South Islands on several occasions between 1862 and 1875. Now present from North Cape (Otou) to Stewart Island / Rakiura in coastal sand-dunes, farmlands, forest margins, and subalpine scrub to at least 1,750 m a.s.l. Tends to be more common at higher altitudes than at sea level, and in the South Island than the North (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Has spread to Kermadec / Rangitāhua, Chatham, Snares / Tini Heke, Antipodes, Auckland / Maukahuka, Campbell / Motu Ihupuku, and Macquarie Islands
Stenhouse (1960, 1962) gave evidence to suggest that the migratory A. f. flammea was among birds imported to New Zealand in 1862. Based on the morphology of contemporary New Zealand birds, A. f. flammea may have been present and interbred with A. f. cabaret, according to Stenhouse (1962), but Westerskov (1953b) and Niethammer (1971) determined that only A. f. cabaret (British Isles, and mountainous areas of central Europe) was present. Fennell, Sagar et al. (1985) found that in many but not all characteristics, New Zealand birds deviated little from the taxon A. f. cabaret. These authors recommended that “redpolls in New Zealand should not be defined trinomially in terms of the European races”. Until there is more study of New Zealand birds, and further clarification from Europe and North America, we recommend listing New Zealand birds as Acanthis flammea and without indicating a subspecies.
Genus *Carduelis Brisson
Carduelis Brisson, 1760: Ornithologie 1: 36 – Type species (by tautonymy) Fringilla carduelis Linnaeus = Carduelis carduelis (Linnaeus).
➤ *Carduelis carduelis (Linnaeus)
European Goldfinch | Kōurarini
Fringilla carduelis Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 180 – Europe, restricted to Sweden (fide Hartert 1903, Vögel Pal. Fauna: 67).
Europe, central and south-west Asia, North Africa; northern populations migratory.
*Carduelis carduelis britannica (Hartert)
European Goldfinch | Kōurarini
Fringilla carduelis; Hutton 1871, Cat. Birds N.Z.: 60. Not Fringilla carduelis Linnaeus, 1758.
Acanthis carduelis britannica Hartert, 1903: Vögel Pal. Fauna: 68 – Rottingdean, Sussex, England.
Carduelis elegans; Thomson 1922, Naturalisation Animals Plants New Zealand: 173. Not Carduelis elegans Stephens, 1826.
Carduelis carduelis; Oliver 1930, New Zealand Birds, 1st edition: 510. Not Fringilla carduelis Linnaeus, 1758.
Carduelis carduelis britannica (Hartert); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 65.
New Zealand: introduced to both North and South Islands on several occasions between 1862 and 1883. Now present throughout New Zealand (similar distribution to that of greenfinch), especially in orchards and farmlands, but scarce or absent at higher altitudes and in unbroken areas of native forest (C. Robertson et al. 2007). Also present on Chathams, and has straggled to Kermadec / Rangitāhua, Snares / Tini Heke, Auckland / Maukahuka, Campbell / Motu Ihupuku, Antipodes, and Macquarie Islands (Keith & Hines 1958; Westerskov 1960; Sorensen 1964; Warham & Bell 1979; Miskelly et al. 2001a; Aikman & Miskelly 2004; Veitch et al. 2004; Miskelly, Elliott et al. 2020). Resident on Norfolk Island (Schodde et al. 1983) where self-introduced from Australia or New Zealand. New Zealand birds were assigned to subspecies C. c. britannica (Hartert, 1903) by Checklist Committee (1970) and by Niethammer (1971). Australian birds are similarly assigned (Schodde & Mason 1999).
Family *EMBERIZIDAE Brehm: Buntings and New World Sparrows
Subfamily *EMBERIZINAE Brehm: Buntings and New World Sparrows
Emberizidae Brehm, 1831: Handb. Naturgesch. Vög. Deutschl.: 261, 289, 1049 – Type genus Emberiza Linnaeus, 1758.
Genus *Emberiza Linnaeus
Emberiza Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 176 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Emberiza citrinella Linnaeus.
➤ *Emberiza citrinella Linnaeus
Yellowhammer | Hurukōwhai
Emberiza citrinella Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 177 – Europe, restricted to Sweden (fide Hartert 1904, Vögel Pal. Fauna: 167).
Emberiza citrinella citrinella Linnaeus; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 66.
Emberiza citrinella caliginosa Clancey, 1940; Niethammer 1971, Journ. für Ornith. 112(2): 223.
Emberiza citrinella Linnaeus; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 217.
Emberiza citronella; Scofield & Stephenson 2013, Birds N.Z. Photographic Guide. 1st edition: 509. Misspelling.
Europe and west Asia, wintering to south-west and central Asia, and North Africa. In New Zealand: successfully introduced to both main islands during the 1860s. Now common and widespread from North Cape (Otou) to Stewart Island / Rakiura, and has spread to the Kermadec Islands / Rangitāhua. Rare on the Chatham Islands and may not be resident (Miskelly et al. 2006). Strays have reached Snares Islands / Tini Heke, Auckland Islands / Maukahuka, Antipodes, and Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku (Bailey & Sorensen 1962; Miskelly et al. 2001a; Miskelly, Elliott et al. 2020), and also Lord Howe Island (Hindwood & Cunningham 1950). Mainly a bird of open country, especially farmland with nearby scrub. Winter flocks are common in farmland, city parks, and along coasts. Assignment to subspecies E. c. caliginosa Clancey, 1940 by Niethammer (1971) requires critical evaluation.
➤ *Emberiza cirlus Linnaeus
Cirl Bunting
Emberiza cirlus Linnaeus, 1766: Syst. Nat., 12th edition 1: 311 – southern Europe.
Emberiza cirlus; Thomson 1922, Naturalisation Animals Plants New Zealand: 175.
Emberiza cirlus cirlus Linnaeus; Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 70.
Emberiza cirlus Linnaeus; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 218.
Central and southern Europe (including southern England) to Mediterranean islands, Asia Minor, and North Africa. Mainly sedentary. Currently regarded as monotypic (Knox et al. 2002). New Zealand: only two small introductions have been documented (seven birds to Otago in 1871 and four to Wellington in 1880–81), but probably others were made and not recorded. By far the rarest introduced passerine; more common in the South Island, especially in parts of Marlborough (T.J. Taylor 1978), Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago (C. Robertson et al. 2007). North Island records sporadic and isolated. Most records are from farmland with hedgerows or scattered scrub.