Colonial ornithology in New Zealand-the legacy of the New Zealand Institute

The establishment of the New Zealand Institute in 1867 was instrumental in New Zealand ornithology changing from a discipline undertaken by museum curators in Europe, to field-based observations carried out by New Zealand residents. Publication of the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute (TPNZI) from 1869 provided the first readily accessible publishing outlet for local scientists and naturalists, with 74 different authors contributing 313 ornithological papers to TPNZI by the turn of the century. The leading contributors of ornithological papers to TPNZI during the colonial era were Walter Buller and Frederick Hutton. Other heavily cited contributors included Augustus Hamilton, Julius von Haast and Andreas Reischek. Papers on moa (Dinornithiformes) comprised about 36% of ornithological papers published in the first 40 volumes of TPNZI (1869-1908). Other popular topics included papers on single New Zealand bird species (some of which are now extinct), vagrant bird species, accounts of multiple bird species and descriptions of the bird faunas at particular sites. Topics that have had the most enduring legacy (as evident from recent citation rates) were the biogeography of New Zealand birds (including our extinct avifauna, both moa and non-moa), and regional bird accounts, particularly papers describing the avifaunas of outlying island groups. Nine currently accepted bird names first appeared in TPNZI before 1908, most notably Haast's eagle Harpagornis moorei (now Aquila moorei).