Nearest 

 allies. 



284 



HIMANTOPUS. 



It is most nearly related to the Black Stilt on the one hand, and on the other to the 

 South- American Stilt. 



HIMANTOPUS LEUCOCEPHALUS PICATUS. 



NEW-ZEALAND PIED STILT. 



Diagnosis. Himantopus leucocephalus collari albo inter collum posticum et dorsum nigro striata. 



Variations. 



Synonymy. 



The New-Zealand Pied Stilt is an intermediate form between the Australian Stilt and the 

 Black Stilt. It completely intergrades with the former, and probably does so with the 

 latter; but this is a question which the New-Zealand ornithologists seem unable to answer. 



Himantopus picatus, Ellman, Zoologist, 1861, p. 7470. 



Himantopus spicatus. Potts, Trans. New Zealand Institute, v. p. 198 (1872). 



Literature. 



Subspecific 

 characters. 



Probable 

 origin. 



Plates . — Unfigured. 



Habits. — Potts, Trans. New Zealand Institute, ii. p. 70. 



Eggs, described by Potts on page 70 of the above-mentioned work as slightly smaller than those 

 of H. melas. 



Pied Stilts with white axillaries are found on both islands of New Zealand, having longer 

 legs than the Black Stilt, the tarsus varying in adult birds from 3-7 to 4-4 inch. Most of 

 these birds differ from H. leucocephalus, though very slightly. Either there are traces of 

 black on the axillaries, or on the tail-feathers, or on the sides and front of the neck; and 

 very often the white collar at the back of the neck is profusely streaked with black. It is, 

 however, possible to find examples from Austraha in which the white collar is slightly 

 streaked with black, and which are indistinguishable from the whitest examples from New 

 Zealand. 



The New-Zealand Pied Stilt appears to be a colony of //. leucocephalus which has 

 intermarried with the Black Stilt {H. melas), and shows a more or less conspicuous strain 

 of the latter species. An example of the young in first plumage from New Zealand in the 

 collection of Sir Walter BuUer is, however, apparently pure-bred U. leucocephalus with 

 white axillaries. 



Potts remarks that it breeds on the swamps near the borders of pools and lakes in the 

 South Island of New Zealand. 



