308 Mr. J. E. Harting o/i rare or 



genre bien caracterise, doit, ce me semble, tenir le milieu entre 

 Calidris arenaria, dont il a la nature du plumage (les reniiges 

 secondaires en ont la rneme forme) et de Terekia cinerea dont les 

 semi-palmures sont analogues. Comme chez ces deux genres, 

 les rainures du bee se prolongent assez loin, et leurs narines 

 sont percees longitudiualement dans une membrane. Comme 

 eux aussi, les plumes serrees s'avancent assez loin sur la base du 

 bee, qui est noir ; les pieds sont egalement de cette couleur ; les 

 membranes qui unissent les doigts h, leur base s'etendent jus- 

 qu^^ la premiere phalange, et se continuent comme un petit ruban 

 sur les parties laterales des autres phalanges a peu pres comme 

 dans le Terekia; les ongles sont pointus et en gouttiere bien 

 plus marquees que dans ce dernier et dans le Calidris." In 

 these respects it somewhat resembles j^gialitis, particularly 

 -^. geoffroyi (Wagler). 



Mr. G. R. Gray has expressed an opinion that it is nearer to 

 Charadrius than to Calidris, and has referred it to the former 

 genus in his last paper on the subject. In some respects it is 

 related to Strepsilas, particularly in the character of the bill, 

 which is without that elaborate system of nerves observable in 

 Calidris, but not in Strepsilas. But I believe that its nearest 

 ally will be found in another New Zealand form, Thinornis 

 novce-zealandia, of which genus Thinornis, another species, T. 

 rossi, has been obtained in the Auckland Islands. 



It is somewhat remarkable that since the first notice of A7ia- 

 rhynchus by MM. Quoy and Gaimard in 1830, no subsequent 

 writer has been able to add anything to the account then given 

 of it. In 1831 Lesson, in his ' Traite d^Ornithologie,' referred to 

 it in a foot-note, under the head of Calidris, considering it " une 

 espece de Sanderling.'' The same author, in his ' Complement 

 des oeuvres de BufFon,' subsequently (1840) copied the remarks 

 of MM. Quoy and Gaimard on the subject, verbatim, without 

 even being at the pains to acknowledge the obligation. In 

 1843, Mr. G. R. Gray noticed the bird in an appendix to Dief- 

 fenbach's ' Travels in New Zealand,^ and in the following year 

 he included it in the 'Voyage of the Erebus and Terror; ' but 

 in none of these instances is any information given beyond a 

 reference to the previous account of the species. 



