Ordee CHAEADEIIFOEMES.] 



[Family CHAEADEIIDiE. 



RECUEYIEOSTRA N OYiE-HOL LAND I2E. 



(EED-NEOKED AVOCET.) 



Recurvirostra novae-hollandiae, Yieillot ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 20. 



Among the rarer forms of our Waders, this beautiful Eed-necked Avocet (presumably a visitant 

 from Australia) holds a conspicuous place. 



I have recorded {I.e., vol. ii., p. 20) the only instances, within my knowledge, of the occurrence 

 of this graceful Plover in the colony. 



There are very few New-Zealand specimens in existence. There are three in the Otago 

 Museum — two from Jackson's Bay, and one from Whakatipu Lake — two in the Canterbury 

 Museum, one in the Colonial Museum; two in my own collection; and one, if not two, in the 

 Eothschild Museum at Tring. 



Although the western and southern portions of Australia appear to be the home of this 

 species, it is apparently a rare bird even there, for Mr. Gould states he never met with it himself 

 during his rambles in New South Wales, and had " only seen it now and then in collections from 

 those parts." It is called Ya-jin-goo-rong by the aborigines of Western Australia. 



NUMENIUS CYANOPUS. 



(AUSTEALIAN CUELEW.) 



Numenius cyanopus, Yieill. ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 45. 



The Australian Curlew differs very slightly from the American form {Numenius longirostris) ; 

 but it may be readily distinguished by the colour of the under parts which are nearly white, 

 streaked and transversely barred with brown. 



This bird breeds in south-eastern Siberia, from Lake Baikal to the mouth of the Amoor, 

 passes along the coasts of Japan and China on migration, and crosses the line to pass the winter 

 in Australia, where, at that season, it is very numerous. 



The occurrence of a straggler in the Manukau Harbour, near Auckland, is recorded in 

 the proceedings of the Auckland Institute (February, 1897). 



