BurrER.— Notes on the Ornithology of New Zealand. 197 
Limnocinctus ACUMINATUS, Horsf.—Bandpiper. 
Dr. von Haast having allowed me to examine a specimen of this bird 
killed at Lake Ellesmere in the month of December, I have been able to 
add the following description to my former notes on this interesting 
addition to our avifauna :— 
Crown of the head and lores dull rufous; each feather centred with 
: brown ; nape, hindneck, and the whole of the mantle brownish-grey, 
slightly tinged with rufous, each feather largely centred with dark brown, 
which gradually fades into grey ; lower part of back, rump, and upper tail- 
coverts blaekish-brown, slightly margined with rufous; wing feathers dark 
brown with white shafts, the superior coverts largely tipped, and the 
secondaries narrowly margined with white; small wing-coverts dull brown 
with greyish margins; tail feathers Minckidie brown, with a narrow margin 
of fulvous white; line over the eye, chin and throat white; sides of the 
head dark grey, speckled with brown; the whole of the foreneck fulvous 
grey speckled with brown, and more distinctly on the outer sides; breast, 
abdomen, and under tail-coverts fulvous white, the latter with a streak of 
brown down the shafts; sides of the body, axillary plumes, and inner 
lining of wings pure white; towards the outer edges of the wing mottled 
with brown. The outermost upper tail-coverts also are white, with a 
lanceolate streak of brown down the centre. Bill brown; legs and feet 
yellowish-olive. Length, 7 inches; wing from flexure, 5°15; tail, 2:15; 
bill along the ridge, :95, along the edge of lower mandible, 1-05; bare ` 
tibia, 5; tarsus, 1:1; middle toe and claw, 1-2; hallux and claw, :8. 
AnpETTA MACULATA, Buller.—Little Bittern. 
All the hitherto recorded examples of the little bittern are from the 
South Island. But Mr. Colenso assures me that a live specimen was 
captured by the natives at Tauranga in the year 1836. It was in his 
possession alive for some time, and he afterwards sent the skin to the 
Linnean Society. The bird was quite new to the natives in that part ofthe 
eouniry. 
NYCTICORAX CALEDONICUS, Steph.—Night Heron. 
The same informant, in the published article already quoted, supplies 
evidence of the occurrence of another South Island visitant in this island 
also. The record (1845) is as follows :—'* In crossing a very deep swamp, 
a beautiful bird, apparently of the crane kind, rose gracefully from the mud 
among the reeds and flew slowly past us; its under plumage was of a light 
yellow or ochre colour, with a dark brown upper plumage. None of my 
natives knew the bird, declaring they had never seen such an one before." It 
is evident that the bird here referred to is the Nankeen night-heron of 
Australia, already included among our occasional stragglers. 
