426 Mr. J. E. Harting on rare or 



8"375 in. The bill was coral-red; the irides of the brighest 

 yellow, and the legs and claws of a rusty-brown colour. The 

 bird was apparently solitary, and climbing the bough of a 

 large tree. 



[To be continued.] 



XXXVIII. — On rare or little-knoivn Limicola?. 

 By James Edmund Harting, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



(Plate XII.) 



[Continued from p. 310.] 



Notwithstanding the vagrant habits of the species which 

 compose the present group, and the increasing researches of 

 naturalists in all quarters of the globe, it is remarkable that a 

 bird which was described more than a century ago by Linnaeus 

 should still be one of the rarest and least-known. From a pe- 

 rusal of all that has hitherto been published with reference to 

 this species, it would appear that those who followed more im- 

 mediately in the wake of Linnseus did little else than copy his 

 original description, perpetuating by so doing the erroneous 

 habitat which had been assigned to the bird, and adding little 

 or nothing to its history. Under the name of Platalea pygmaa 

 or Eurijnorhijnchus griseus certain authors have created some 

 confusion by describing birds which were properly referable to 

 some other species, while the few original descriptions on record 

 have all been taken from specimens which were procured in the 

 winter plumage. For a long time the true habitat of Eunjno- 

 rkynchus was unknown ; and even at the present day its precise 

 geographical range remains undetermined. 



In the present paper I propose to set forth all the trustworthy 

 information which I have been able to obtain concerning this 

 remarkable bird, to point out the localities whence authentic 

 specimens have been procured, and especially to direct atten- 

 tion to the summer plumage, which hitherto, so far as I am 

 aware, has neither been figured nor described. 



The synonymy will stand as follows : — 



