260 Mr. J. E. Harting on little-known Liraicolae. 



" The sexeSj" he continues^ '' are alike in plumage, and 

 differ but little in size;^' and to this I may add that, so far 

 as I have been able to judge from numerous specimens re- 

 ceived at different times from various parts of Australia, the 

 red or, rather, chestnut colour of the head and neck is retained 

 throughout the year, though it becomes paler in the winter. 



We are at present without information as to its breeding- 

 habits ; but its mode of nesting and the number and colour of 

 its eggs are no doubt very similar to those of its better-known 

 congeners. 



The Rev. Mr. Ewing, in his " List of the Birds of Tas- 

 mania,^' published in the ' Proceedings ' of the Royal Society, 

 Tasmania, includes the Red-necked Avocet amongst the 

 wading birds found there ; and Dr. Downing, in an article 

 " On Norfolk Island,^' published in the same ' Proceedings,' 

 refers to a single specimen of this bird which had been pro- 

 cured at that lonely spot a year or two previously"^. 



Regarding its occuiTence in Xew Zealand, Mr. Buller writes 

 as follows : — " In the summer of 1859-60, 1 saw a small flock 

 of them far up the course of the Ashbui'ton River, and again 

 in a small lagoon near the township of Timara, but not having 

 a gun with me I was unable to secure any. In the same sea- 

 son a specimen was shot by jSIr. French on the tidal flats near 

 the mouth of the Kaiapoi river, and this, unfortunately, was 

 allowed to perish. Three years later I met with a flock, num- 

 bering five or six, on the south-west of the Wellington pro- 

 vince. They were very shy, rising high in the air on my at- 

 tempting to approach them, and taking their course for the 

 opposite side of Cook's Strait. Two specimens have been 

 shot on the ocean-beach near Dunedin; and Dr. Richardson 

 received another from the Whakatipu Lake, in the interior 

 of the Otago pro^dnce. A solitary one was shot on the mud- 

 flats near Whangarei some years ago, and the skin was pre- 

 served by Mr. George Burnett, who fonvarded it to Europe." 

 The specimen from which INIr. Buller's description was taken 

 was killed on the mud-flats near Christchurch, Canterbury 

 settlement, in 1864, and forwarded to him by Dr. Haast for 

 * See also Ibis, 1861, p. 110. 



