little-known Liniicolse. 305 



Anarhynchus albtfrons, Schlegel, Handleid. i. p. 435 (1857). 



Hah. So far as at present known, this species, the only one 

 of the genus, is confined to New Zealand. Specimens have been 

 received from Chouraki Bay, and Port Lyttelton, Canterbury 

 Settlement. 



Description. — Adult (hitherto undescribed) : Bill black, mode- 

 rately long, pointed, curved to one side, the extreme point turned 

 slightly upwards, the nostrils placed in a long groove on each 

 side of the upper mandible. Forehead and underparts, with 

 the exception of the breast, pure white. Across the breast a 

 narrow band of black. Crown of the head, nape, a narrow line 

 from the bill under the eye to the nape, and upper surface of the 

 body pale cinereous ; a narrow line of black feathers separating 

 the white of the forehead from the grey of the crown. Wings 

 long and pointed; primaries brownish-black, the first the longest. 

 Tail of moderate length, square, cinereous, the middle feathers 

 darker in colour. Legs and toes greenish- black, beneath green- 

 ish-ochre, moderately long, slender. Toes united at the base 

 by a membrane extending to the first joint ; hind toe wanting. 

 Total length 7 inches. Bill 1*.2. Wing from carpus 4*7. Tar- 

 sus 1*1. Middle toe with nail "9. [Exempt, in mus. J. E. H.) 



The young, as described and figured by Quoy and Gaimard 

 [loc. cit.), diff'ers from the adult in having no black line above the 

 white forehead, which is less pure ; no black band across the 

 breast, and the grey feathers on the upper surface of the body 

 more or less margined with a paler shade of the same colour. 

 [Exempt, typ. in mus. Paris.) 



A specimen in intermediate stage of plumage has on each side 

 of the breast an irregular patch of brownish-black, separated on 

 the middle of the breast by white, the latter extending from the 

 chin downwards to the vent, as observable in jEgialitis canti- 

 anus, AS. melodus, jEI. nivosus, and others. This specimen 

 shows signs of being an adult bird, and may therefore be in the 

 plumage peculiar to the female, or to both sexes in winter. 

 [Exempt, in mus. Brit.) 



quoted by ]Mr. G. R. Gray [ut supra) applies, I think, to another species; 

 and in the course of this paper I shall give ray reasons for so regarding it. 



