432 Dr. O. Finsch’s Ornithological 
at their junction with the trunk. Some birds were still col- 
lecting nesting-materials ; and in the nests, which never con- 
tained more than a single egg, were fresh eggs, eggs in all 
stages of incubation, and young birds, of which some had 
attained their first plumage. 
The young of Anous stolidus are readily to be distinguished 
from those of A. melanogenys, of which species I got young 
ones in nest-plumage in the beginning of January. 
The birds seen along the shores in the lagoons of the Gil- 
berts are just the same as those found in similar places in the 
Marshalls, 7. e. Strepsilas interpres, Charadrius fulvus, Actitis 
incana, and Ardea sacra, of which all of the three first- 
named species wore the full winter dress. Charadrius fulvus 
frequents the dry sandy grounds under the cocoanut-trees, 
and may be seen sometimes in parties up to four in number, 
which, however, do not keep together when on the wing. 
In Tarowa I frequently observed Numenius femoral, the 
“ Kiwi” of the natives; but they were, as usual, very shy 
and out of reach on the white reef, where shooting, on account 
of the sun, sometimes proves dangerous. Numenius femo- 
ralis is, from what I hear from the settlers, only a winter 
visitor, and I should not wonder if its breeding- grounds were 
far north in Eastern Asia (Kamschatka). The species is 
very rare, and I never counted more than perhaps half a 
dozen. Besides this Curlew, I observed several times a 
Godwit, standing very high on its legs, which I supposed might 
be the eastern form of Limosa melanura (L. melanurotdes, 
Gould). Ardea sacra was more plentiful than in the Mar- 
shalls, and on some places not at all shy, coming close to the 
huts of the natives and perching on the neighbouring trees. 
That white and slate-coloured specimens belong to one and 
the same species is a well-known fact, which I confirmed 
formerly by the investigation of full materials received from 
the Pacific, and which I can now verify from my own 
experience. In Butaritari I saw uniformly white birds going 
always in pairs; I also saw pairs, undoubtedly male and 
female, of which the one was white the other slate-coloured, 
or both of the latter colour or mixed with white. There 
