little-known Limicolae. 307 



Through the kindness of M. Jules Verreaux, three of these 

 bills are now before me, and they all exhibit the remarkable 

 curvature above described. Mr. G. R. Gray, referring to this 

 species in a " List of the Birds of New Zealand and the adjacent 

 islands " (Ibis, 1862, p. 234'), took exception to J\IM. Quoy and 

 Gaimard's plate, observing that " the bird is represented in the 

 ' Voyage of the Astrolabe ' with a deformed bill. The bill is 

 perfectly straight in most specimens/' But Mr. Gray possi- 

 bly overlooked the important statement of the French naturalists 

 above quoted. The adult now figured was obtained in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Port Lyttelton, Canterbury Settlement, and came 

 into my possession early in the present year, along with some 

 other New-Zealand Z/wn2Co/«. Since then 1 have been informed 

 that two other examples have been received from New Zealand 

 by Dr. Hartlaub, both of which exhibit the same remarkable 

 curvature of bill. Here, then, are eight bills, six of which 

 I have myself seen, all agreeing in shape and size ; and I cannot 

 ascertain the existence of any specimen of this bird in which the 

 bill is straight. It can scarcely be supposed, after all this, 

 that the peculiarity is the result of an accident. 



So far as I am aware, the species now under consideration is 

 the only one belonging to the genus Anarhijnchus, although 

 MM. Quoy and Gaimard state that it much resembles a species 

 from Porto Rico, of which an example is to be seen in the 

 Museum in Paris. They refer also to a species brought from 

 Cayenne by M. Frere, in which the bill is curved upwards at 

 the extremity. I have not only searched the Museum in Paris 

 in vain for the specimens mentioned, but M. Verreaux could not 

 give me any information respecting them. It is possible that 

 the species intended may have been Terekia cinerea ; but of 

 this I have no means of judging, except from the mention of the 

 bill being curved upwards and the small size of the bird. 



MM. Quoy and Gaimard concurred in considering Anarhijn- 

 chus frontalis allied to Calidris arenaria, in which view they 

 are supported by M. Jules Verreaux, who would place it be- 

 tween Calidris arenaria and Terekia cinerea. Bonaparte [loc. cit.) 

 assigns it a place between Terekia and Numenius. In a recent 

 letter to me upon the subject JM. Verreaux says, " En somme, ce 



