69 



turned to the right, or oft* side. Birds of the year, we believe, do not assume 

 the frontlet which distinguishes the old birds, and which is broadest in the 

 male. No satisfactory reason has been given for the peculiar form of the bill 

 of this bird, which exceeds in length that of 0. bicinctus. 



Notes. — Sept. 14, 1856 — Saw three eggs on a patch of small shingle. 



Oct. 28, 1857 — Young birds on the Rakaia river-bed. 



Oct. 30, 1867 — Two eggs on the bare shingle, Rakaia river. 



Nov. 2, 1867 — Three eggs chipped, on shingle, Ashburton river. 



No. 71. — H^ematopus longirostris, Vieil. 

 Torea. 

 Oyster-catcher, Red-bill. 



The Oyster-catcher is one of the wariest and most restless of our birds, 

 ever ready with its clamorous alarm-note, to wake up each echo, and disturb 

 every bird within the sound of its shrill cry ; but in the breeding-season it exhibits 

 an intensity of slyness, that is almost supernatural. Usually it breeds in our 

 river-beds, on the sandy spits, without other shelter than what may be afforded 

 by some drift flax, grass, or stick, near which it makes, or discovers, a slight 

 depression, in which to deposit its eggs, which are somewhat oval in shape, 

 2 inches 3 lines in length, with a diameter of 1 inch 7-| lines ; pale or 

 yellowish-brown; these are not to be distinguished from those of the European 

 bird, much covered with irregular marks and spots of rich brown. Usually 

 three eggs are laid, but we have found it incubating a single egg : the young 

 are grey, with a dark longitudinal stripe on each side, above the wing. They 

 are very active, and are early led by the old birds to the margin of the water- 

 holes or pools. On being alarmed, the old bird sidles off the nest quietly, takes 

 advantage of any broken ground that apparently conceals its movements from 

 observation, and makes a long detour ; a close scrutiny will very frequently 

 enable the observer to detect the head of the bird carefully peering out behind 

 some vantage-ground, watching all his proceedings. 



A very common frequenter of the coast, as its familiar name imports ; in 

 the winter time it assembles in large flocks on the mud flats disclosed by the 

 ebbing tide ; though a shore-bird, it is found breeding in solitary couples, often 

 far inland, certainly sixty or seventy miles from the sea, for instance, up the 

 Wilberforce river, nearly as far back as the neighbourhood of Browning's Pass. 

 A pair will boldly attack the Harrier, male and female striking at the Hawk 

 in turn, and driving it to a safe distance from their young. Hasmatopus, 

 that is, literally, the blood-red foot, one of the birds mentioned by Pliny, 

 appears to be universally met with. 



No. 75. — Botaurus poicilopterus, Wagl. 

 Matukuhurepo. 

 Bittern. 



Not so frequently met with as before such an extensive breadth of swamp- 

 land had been drained and cultivated. It was once very common about 

 Christchurch, " the City of the Plains," it still haunts the banks of the Avon, 

 and breeds in the neighbouring swamps. The breeding season of the Bittern 

 must extend over a considerable period, as we have found the eggs, quite fresh, 

 in the middle of January (15th). A nest near Clearwater, or Lake Tripp, in 

 the Ashburton country, was built of raupo, (Typlia angustifolia), surrounded: 

 by water about ankle deep ; the top of the nest was very flat, and stood about 

 six inches above the surface of the water. (See Plate 4, Fig. 7.) We have not 

 seen more than four eggs to a nest, they are oval in form, varying slightly in 

 colour, from buffy-brown to pale olive-green. Through the axis they measure 

 2 inches 1^ lines, with a diameter of 1 inch 6 lines. 



