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[Fam. CHAEADEIIDtE. 



HJ]MATOPFS UNICOLOR 



(BLACK OYSTER-CATCHER.) 



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Hcematqpus unicolor, Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 1230 



Hcematopus fuliginosus^ Gould, B. of Austr. vi. pi. viii, (1848). 

 ffcBmatqpus niger oceanicus, Bonap. C. R. xliii. p. 420 (1856). 

 Hcematopus niger austr alasiamis^ Bonap. C. R. xliii. p. 420 (1856). 

 Hcematopus niger^ Ellman, Zool. 1861, p. 7469. 



Native name. — Torea-pango. 



Ad, ubique niger^ remigibus et cauda brunnescentibus, scapis primariorum ad basin albidis : rostro corallino^ 



apice flavicanti-corneo : pedibus pallide rubris : iride et regione oculari coccineis. 



Adult male. The whole of the plumage glossy brownish black_, with faint metallic reflections on the back 

 and wings. Irides and bare eyehds crimson; bill coral-red^ changing to yellowish horn-colour at the 

 tips of both mandibles j tarsi and toes pale red. Length 19 inches; wing, from flexure, 10*5 ; tail 4'25 ; 

 bill, along the ridge 3'5, along the edge of lower mandible 3-6; tarsus 2*25; middle toe and claw 1-75. 



Female. Similar to the male, but more strongly tinged with brown, especially on the under surface. 



Young, Uniform dull brownish black, the feathers of the back and the wing-coverts narrowly margined with 

 fulvous brown. 



Obs. Examples are not unfrequently met with exhibiting a white abdomen and a dull whitish bar on the 

 wings. It is not unlikely that this is due to hybridism; for the two species are often seen associated. 

 The following is a description of one of these particoloured birds in the Canterbury Museum : — Head, 

 neck, fore part of breast, and all the upper surface black; an indistinct alar bar and the tips of some of 

 the upper tail-coverts white; lower part of breast, sides of the body, flanks, abdomen, axillary plumes, 

 and under tail-coverts largely varied with white. 



This species, although far more abundant in New Zealand than the Pied Oyster-catcher, appears 

 to have a more confined range, for it has never yet been recorded elsewhere. Its habits are the 

 same, with the exception that it is less gregarious, being met with generally either singly or in 

 pairs ; and its eggs are quite undistinguishable from those of the former species. 



