258 Mr. J. E. Harting on rare 



Diagn. R. alba; capite, coUo, pectore, abdomine^ subala- 

 ribus et crisso, dorso et uropygio pure albis ; scapularibus, 

 interscapuliis. alis et cauda fuscescenti-nigi'is ; rostro nigro ; 

 iride coccinea; pedibus caeruleis : long. tot. circa 18"9 poll.^ 

 rostr. 3-2, alae 9-6, tib. nud. 1-3, tars. 3-4, dig. med. 1-7. 



The above diagnosis I bave prepared from tbe description 

 given by Herren Philippi & Landbeck. Translated from 

 the German, the brief account which they give of the bird is 

 as follows : — 



" Head and neck white ; mantle, wings, and tail black ; 

 feet bluish grey. 



. " The wings do not quite reach to the end of the tail. The 

 tibia is bare for 1-3 inch. The bill is horn-black at the ex-- 

 tremity, graduating into horn-brown. Iris bright red. Tarsus 

 bluish grey ; claws black. Head, neck, breast, belly under 

 wing- and under tail-coverts, lower part of back and rump, 

 flanks and thighs, pure snowy white. Upper part of back, 

 shoulders, wings, tail, and upper tail-coverts brownish black ; 

 the greater wing-coverts and primaries with greenish black 

 reflections, but without any white." 



They add, " this pretty Avocet, which cannot be mistaken 

 for any other species, was obtained by the late Herr Frobeen, 

 of Arica, at a lake at Paruncota, in the Andes, 16,000 feet 

 above the sea-level, and only one specimen procured in June 

 1863. The birds were very shy, and the air so cold and thin, 

 that collecting there was attended with great difiiculty.^^ 



As I have already stated at the commencement of the pre- 

 sent article the reasons which have led me to regard R. an- 

 dina as a good species, I need only remark, in addition, how 

 extremely desirable it is that the attention of ornithologists 

 in South America should be directed towards its rediscovery, 

 with a view to ascertain its geographical range and some- 

 thing more than its original discoverer has been able to supply 

 from the acquisition of a single specimen. 



Recurvirostra nov.e-hollaxdi^, Vieillot. 

 Recurvirostra tiova-hoUandice, Vieillot, N. D. d'hist. nat. 

 iii. p. 103 (1816); Buller, Birds N. Zealand, p. 201 (1872). 



