199 



Adult in summer. Has the plumage of the upper surface darker and largely varied with rufous, the sides of 

 the head, throat, fore neck, breast, upper part of abdomen, sides of the body, and flanks bright rufous. It 

 should be mentioned that although, strictly speaking, only a seasonal visitant, a few stragglers remain with 

 us all through the year, and that specimens are sometimes met with in a transitional state of plumage. 



Albino. The following is the description of an albino shot by myself at Ohau, on the west coast of the 

 Wellington Province, in the spring of 1862 : — The whole of the plumage white, tinged with brown on 

 the head, back, and upper surface of wings ; tertiaries and the primary coverts partially brown ; lining 

 of wings, axillary plumes, and upper tail-coverts barred with pale brown; bill whitish ; legs black. 



Obs. In this species the length of the bill is very variable. A series of five examples, in a fine collection of 

 birds made by Mr. W. T. L. Travers in the South Island, presents the following gradations in the bill : — 

 3 inches, 3 - 5, 4*1, 4 - 4, and 4"5. The tarsi are of equal length in all five specimens ; and there is scarcely 

 any perceptible difference in the length of the wing. Nos. 1 and 2 are in partial summer dress, the 

 former having scattered clouded spots of rufous on the underparts, the latter having the whole of the 

 under surface stained more or less with rufous, especially the fore neck, breast, and sides of the body, 

 where this colour predominates. The rest are in full winter plumage. 



Des. Finsch AifD Hartlaub, in. their excellent work on the birds of Central Polynesia, have 

 correctly referred our bird to the species described by Mr. Gould under the name of Limosa 

 wropygialis ; but, as will be seen on reference to the historical synonymy given above, this name 

 has no claim whatever to recognition. There are no less than five recorded names of antecedent 

 date ; and, in settling questions of nomenclature, I shall, as far as possible, adhere to the estab- 

 lished rule of adopting in every case the oldest admissible title. There can be no doubt that this 

 was the species originally described (I. c.) as Limosa baueri ; and I have accordingly restored its 

 original name. But even supposing tbat, as the authors already cited have contended, Nau- 

 mann's description is too vague to fix the species, and that Gray's L. brevipes is open to the same 

 objection, then Limosa novce-zealandice (Gray) would undoubtedly stand in preference to a name 

 bestowed by Gould at a later period. 



This Godwit is the eastern representative of the European Limosa lapponica, to which it bears 

 a close resemblance ; and, like that species, it has a very extensive geographical range. Both of 

 them are alike migratory in their respective hemispheres ; and while the other species breeds in 

 the high northern latitudes of Europe and retires in winter to North-west and East Africa, our 

 bird spends a portion of the year in Siberia, and visits, in the course of its annual migration, the 

 islands of the Indian archipelago, Polynesia, Australia, and New Zealand. Von Middendorff, 

 who met with these birds in great numbers in Northern Siberia (74-75° N. lat.), states that they 

 appeared there on the 3rd June, and left again in the beginning of August. In the months of 

 September and April Swinhoe observed migratory flocks on the coast of Formosa, and during the 

 winter months he met with this species still further south. Von Middendorff found it also in 

 summer on the south coast of the Sea of Ochotsk, although it did not appear to breed there. 

 It has likewise been observed in China, Japan, Java, Celebes, Timor, Norfolk Island, and the 

 New Hebrides, and its range doubtless extends much further ; but it has never yet been met with 

 in India, this being probably too far west of its annual course*. 



* Fauna Central-Polynesiens (1867), p. 181. 



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