AVES CHARADRIID^B; 273 



Hcematopiis unicolor, Gould (nee Wagl.), P. Z. S. 1859, p. 96 (Falkland 



Islands, eggs). 

 Hcematopus niger ater, Baird, Brewer, & Ridgw. Water Birds N. Amer. 



I. p. 109 (1884); Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 311 (1888). 

 Melanibyx ater, Heine & Reichen. Nomencl. Mus. Hein. p. 337 (1890: 



Chili). 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



Size. Adult. Total length, about 16 inches. 



Wing, 10.7 inches. 



Culmen, 2.8 inches. 



Tail, 3.7 inches. 



Tarsus, 2 inches. 



Color. Adult male. General color black or deep chocolate brown 

 throughout. 



Head: Black. 



Neck: Black. 



Back: Deep chocolate brown. 



Wing : Deep chocolate brown. 



Tail : Deep chocolate brown. 



Lower Parts : Black like the head and neck, on the breast and imper- 

 ceptibly shading into a darker brown than that of the upper parts. 



" Bill dark pink; legs and feet greenish yellow; iris dark orange" (H. 

 Durnford). The bill is very much deeper and more compressed than in 

 any of the close allies of the species. At the end the shape is that of a 

 thin blade, reminding one of the bill of Rhynchops. 



Immature and young birds are much browner than adults and the 

 feathers of the brown parts of the plumage are edged with sandy buff. 

 The head and neck as well as the breast are deep sooty. 



721, female, Elizabeth Island. 



" Eyes yellow, feet flesh, bill red, eyelids red ; stomach had mussels." 



Sclater&Salvin, on Birds Antarctic America, Voy. H. M. S. " Chall."- 

 No. IX. p. 438, 1878. 



" Female : Fort Henry, January 29, 1879. Eyes black ; eyelids orange- 

 red ; bill orange-red; feet grey." Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 15. 



" Two species of Hcematopus, I may here observe, are common through- 



