234 XARID^. 



bars ; remaining quills plain grey ; under wing-coverts greyish : 

 bill, tarsi, and toes black, with a reddish tinge ; iris white. Total 

 length 14-5 inches, culmen 1'8, wing 11-8, tail 4*8, tarsus 1'65, 

 middle toe with claw 1*5. 



In less mature birds the 1st quill has a black subterminal bar, 

 and the black of the inner web extends inwards nearly to the shaft 

 about halfway up. 



The female is slightly smaller, but otherwise like the male. 



Young. Similar, but the feathers of the upper surface slightly 

 tipped and spotted with clove-brown ; quills with more dark colour, 

 reaching completely to the shafts on the inner webs of the 1st and 

 2nd {see cut beloiv) ; tail with the merest trace of a brown bar, which 

 is soon lost : bill yellow, horn- colour anteriorly ; tarsi and toes dull 

 yellow. 



Lams bullcri, juv. 



Fledgling (coll. Hon. W. llothschUd). Feathers of the upper 

 surface edged with warm butF; tail without any decided band, 

 but merely marked with irregular narrow wavy bars on a buff ground 

 on the terminal half of the rectrices (much as in a Common Snipe). 



Hah. New Zealand, chiefly on the inland lakes and rivers, but 

 descending the latter to their estuaries and occurring on the coast. 



This species appears to bo largely insectivorous ; its wing-pattern 

 and the tail-pattern of the young are peculiar, and it seems to have 

 no very close allies. 



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