APPENDIX. 575 



brought to light many ornithological novelties peculiar to those 

 islands, the natural productions of which are even at this time 

 so imperfectly known. The species here described is interesting, 

 not so. much for its beauty, as for its forming another member 

 of the very limited genus liimantopus, of which until lately 

 only one species was known. I regret to say that no infor- 

 mation as to its habits, changes of plumage, or the localities 

 in which it is found, has been acquired ; the two specimens 

 I have seen were merely labelled — " Waders killed at Port 

 Nicholson." They are not only different from all other 

 known species, but are also very dissimilar in plumage 

 and in size, one being very much larger than the other; 

 though the dissimilarity in size is not greater than I have 

 observed to exist betwen the sexes of the White-headed 

 Stilt. The least of the two, which I presume to be the fe- 

 male, has the whole of the plumage black or blackish brown; 

 while the other has the forehead, the front of the neck, and 

 the breast white ; the tail and all the remainder of the plu- 

 mage being black, like the other. I am inclined to beheve 

 that the difference in colouring is either attributable to youth, 

 or that it is a seasonal character ; in all probability, the en- 

 tirely black plumage is that of summer. 



The following is a description of the darkest-coloured bird 

 figured in the folio edition of the ' Birds of Australia.' 



The whole of the plumage sooty black, with the exception 

 of the back, wings, and tail, which are glossed with green ; 

 bill black ; feet pink red ; the other specimen has the fore- 

 head, lores, chin, front, and sides of the neck, chest, and under 

 tail-coverts white. 



Total length 16 inches ; bill 3 ; wing 9^ ; tail 3 J ; tarsi 3|-. 



