BuLLBR. — Oil New Zealand Birds. 81 



I have iu my collection a specimen, obtained at Kaikom^a, 

 in which the chestnut baud is considerably broader. 



Recurvirostra novae-hollandiae, Vieill. (The Eed-necked 



Avocet.) 



Among the rarer forms of our Waders, this beautiful Eed- 

 necked Avocet (presumably a visitant from Australia) holds a 

 conspicuous place. 



I have recorded in " The Birds of New Zealand" (vol. ii., 

 p. 20) the only instances, within my knowledge, of the occur- 

 ence of this graceful Plover in this colony. The only specimen 

 since obtained is that which I have the pleasure of exhibiting 

 this evening — a male in full plumage, which was shot at 

 Invercargill. 



Although the western and southern portions of Australia 

 appear to be the home of this species, it is apparently a rare 

 bird even there, for Mr. Gould states he never met with it 

 himself during his rambles in New South Wales, and had 

 " only seen it now and then in collections from those parts." 

 It is called Ya-jin-goo-rong by the aborigines of Western 

 Australia. 



Himantopus novse-zealandise, Gould. (The Black Stilt.) 



A specimen lately came into my hands in which there 

 were scattered white feathers on the foreneck and on all the 

 under-parts. 



Stercorarius antarcticus, Gray. (The Southern Skua.) 



In "The Birds of New Zealand" (vol. ii., pp. 63, 64) I 

 gave the history of one of these birds that had been in my 

 possession for some five years. In March last I received, 

 through the courtesy of Mr. Lewis Wilson, Under-Secretary 

 of Marine, a healthy young bird of the year which he had 

 caught during a visit to the Snares. It is still an inhabitant 

 of my garden, where it seems quite at home, manifesting the 

 same characteristics of appetite and inquisitiveness as its pre- 

 decessor, fraternising with a Gordon setter, but lording it over 

 the Seagull and other birds within reach at feeding-time. It 

 has a piercing black eye, which is ever on the alert. 



I have been much struck with the readiness with which 

 this bird adapts itself to a strictly terrestrial existence. Writ- 

 ing of the species, however, on Kerguelen's Land, Dr. Kidder 

 says : " As a general rule its habits are terrestrial ; and on the 

 few occasions when, probably after poor success in hunting, I 

 have seen it alight in the water, it has held its wings up per- 

 pendicularly, like a butterfly, as if afraid of wetting them. . . 

 There being no laud-birds on Kerguelen Island besides Chionis, 

 the office and most of the habits of a Buzzard-hawk have been 

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