22 HJEMATOPUS OSTRALEGUS. 



outer vanes with a slanting band of white ; secondaries, 

 white, part of them tipt with black ; the whole lower 

 parts of the body, sides of the rump, tail-coverts, and 

 that portion of the tail which they cover, are pure 

 white; the wing's, when shut, cover the whole white 

 plumage of the back and rump ; legs and naked part of 

 the thighs, pale red ; feet, three-toed, the outer joined 

 to the middle by a broad and strong membrane, and 

 each bordered with a rough warty edge ; the soles of 

 the feet are defended from the hard sand and shells by 

 a remarkably thick and callous warty skin. 



On opening these birds, the smallest of the three was 

 found to be a male ; the gullet widened into a kind of 

 crop ; the stomach, or gizzard, contained fragments of 

 shell fish, pieces of crabs, and of the great king crab, 

 with some dark brown marine insects. The flesh was 

 remarkably firm and muscular, the skull, thick and 

 strong, intended, no doubt, as in the woodpecker tribe, 

 for the security of the brain from the violent concussions 

 it might receive while the bird was engaged in digging. 

 The female and young birds have the back and scapulars 

 of a sooty brownish olive. 



This species is found as far south as Cayenne and 

 Surinam. Dampier met with it on the coast of New 

 Holland ; the British circumnavigators also saw it on 

 Van Diemen's Land, Terra del Fuego, and New 

 Zealand. 



