BIRDS 359 



by any subsequent collectors on this island. It was taken on the small 

 Gardner Island, near Charles, by the Harris expedition in 1S97. 



Rothschild and Ilartert give the following description of N'. trifas- 

 ciattis: " This species is easily recognizable by its large size and 

 broad blackish-brown band across the chest, interrupted and concealed 

 in the middle. There are, however, not two bands, as one might ex- 

 pect from Ridgway's ' key.' The wing coverts have very conspicuous 

 large white spots. The wing of the male is 12S-130 mm. long, the 

 tail 123 (about — most specimens being in worn plumage with the 

 tails much abraded), tarsus 40, exposed culmen 26-27 '"""''• The 

 same measurements in \\\e. female ?iXQ.: Wing 1 16-120, tail 115 (ap- 

 proximately), culmen 25-26, tarsus 38-40 mm, 'Iris seal-brown, 

 tarsi, feet and bill blackish.'" (Novit. Zool., vi, p. 143, 1S99.) 



We obtained no specimens of this species, but we did not visit the 

 Gardner Island in the neighborhood of Charles. 



77. NESOMIMUS MACDONALDI Ridgway. 



NesoiniviJis macdo7ialdi Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. , xii, p. 103, 1890, 

 fig. I (Hood Island), and xix, p. 484, 1896. — Rothschild and Har- 

 TERT, Novit. Zool., VI, p. 143, 1899. 



Rajige. — Hood and the neighboring Gardner Island. 



This species departs widely from all the other species of Neso7niinus 

 in the great size and curvature of the bill. The culmen varies from 

 33 t<^ 37 ^" length, an excess of 6 over the culmen of N. trifasciatus. 

 Otherwise its closest relationship is with this species on account of the 

 brownish-buff band that crosses the breast. It is also related to N. 

 adamsi of Chatham through the spots on the sides of the breast, and, 

 in fact, stands intermediate between N. trifasciatus and N. adamsi. 



Description of a Typical Specimen. — (No. 530S, adult male, 

 Leland Stanford Jr. University Museum. Hood, May 15, 1899.) 

 Above dusky brown and brownish-gray, the former color occupying 

 the central areas of the feathers, the latter the margins; palest on the 

 rump where the dark central areas of the feathers are the least promi- 

 nent. Wings and tail blackish-brown, the quills narrowly edged 

 with buffy grayish, the coverts with wide whitish margins, forming 

 three poorly defined bands across the wing. The rectrices with very 

 indistinct pale areas on the inner margins of the tips of the inner webs. 

 Postocular region of head grayish-buff, continuous with an indistinct 

 superciliary line of the same color. Auriculars blackish anteriorly, 

 buffy posteriorly. Lores black. An indistinct blackish subocular 

 line from the lores and a similar maxillary stripe on the side of the 



