3052 Tue Zootocist—May, 1872. 
appearance, quite taking the place of the larger species, which 
have been so unusually plentiful during the winter. 
Catching Ducks with Nets in Ivreland.—A friend of mine, 
writing from Ireland, says that on a large lake near his house the 
fishermen set nets for ducks just as they would for fish, and succeed 
in catching a great quantity, and that one of the dealers in wild- 
fowl] had as many as sixty in the house at one time this winter, 
caught in that way. The chief kinds captured are tufted ducks, 
goldeneyes and pochards. 
Arrival of the Chiffchaff—My friend the Rev. G. Robinson 
informs me that the chiffchaff was seen and heard by him on the 
12th in the County Armagh, Ireland: and another friend, T. A. 
Briggs, Esq., heard and saw it in the neighbourhood of Plymouth 
on the 16th. 
J. GATCOMBE. 
8, Lower Durnford Street, Stonehouse, Devon, 
April 3, 1872. 
Notes on the Birds of New Zealand. By T. H. Ports, Esq. 
(Continued from Zool. 8S. S. 2859.) 
The Crookbilled Plover (Anarhynchus frontalis, Quoy and Gaim.). 
—This wader was first made known to science under its present 
name by MM. Quoy and Gaimard, having been observed during the 
expedition of the Astrolabe, undertaken in the years 1826-29, by 
order of the King of France. It is also thus recorded in the ‘ List 
of the Birds of New Zealand and the adjacent Islands,’ in Dieffen- 
bach’s work. Again, by G. R. Gray (‘Ibis, July, 1862), we find 
this bird mentioned under the name of Charadrius frontalis, with 
this very remarkable note:—‘ The bird is represented in the 
‘Voyage of the Astrolabe, with a deformed bill; the bill is 
perfectly straight in most specimens.” Where could the author 
have met with those specimens with perfectly straight bills? or 
rather, which of the waders or plovers passed for the Anarhyn- 
chus ?—perhaps C. bicinctus. 
I have lately had the pleasure of perusing a very interesting 
pamphlet, ‘On Rare or Little-known Limicole,’ by Mr. Hastings, 
F.L.S., &c., who appears to have taken great pains in gathering 
together all the information he could collect about this peculiar- 
looking bird, and also gives a careful description of a specimen, in 
—= ee” 
