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Oedeb CHAEADEIIFOEMES.i 



[Family CHAEADEIID^J. 



HETEIIOPYGIA ACUMINATA. 



(MAESH SANDPIPEE.) 



Tringa acuminata (Horsf.), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 37. 



This bird (Kohutapu of the Maoris) associates with the flocks of Kuaka or Godwit; and I received 

 some beautiful specimens from the low-lying river flats at the mouth of the Piako. It is very 

 numerous in the Bay of Plenty, associating there also on the ocean sands with the Godwit, and 

 "being, as a rule, shy and difficult of approach. 



The male birds have bright rufous breasts and a beautifully marked upper surface. 



ANCYLOCHILUS SUBABQUATUS. 



(CUELEW SANDPIPEE.) 



Scolopax subarquatus, Giildenst., Nov. Comm. Petrop., xix., p. 471 (1774). 



I have added this species on the authority of the following letter to me from Captain Hutton 

 under date of April 11th, 1903 : — " Mr. Edgar Stead has added another to our list of migratory 

 birds — the Curlew Stint, Ancylochilus subarquatus. At Lake Ellesmere, on the 5th April, he saw 

 three specimens and shot two, both of which were females. One is in winter plumage, the other 

 is just commencing to get some red feathers on the breast. Our migratory birds have been so 

 little looked after that I cannot feel sure whether it is a chance or a regular migrant." 



TRINGA CANUTUS. 



(THE KNOT.) 



Tringa canutus, Linn. ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol ii., p. 35. 



Preferring to Mr. Cheeseman's specimen shot by his brother in Hobson's Bay, I said, in my 

 ' Birds of New Zealand,' (vol. ii., p. 36) : " This is the first authentic record of this species in the 

 North Island ; but Captain Mair has described to me a bird found associating in considerable 

 numbers with the Godwit on the East Coast, which I have no doubt is the same." 



I have received some fine specimens of this cosmopolitan species, in both summer and winter 

 plumage, from Cape Farewell. A male bird gave the following measurements : Length, 10'5 in. ; 

 extent of wings, 19*5 in. ; wing from flexure, 6*5 in. ; tail, 2*75 in. ; bill, along the ridge, P25 in., 

 along the edge of lower mandible, 112 in. ; tarsus, 112 in. ; middle toe and claw, 11 in. 



The female is slightly smaller in all its proportions. 



I have in my collection a specimen obtained in Pelorus Sound. It is prettily marked, and 

 indicates the commencement of a change from winter to summer plumage, birds in the latter garb 

 being extremely rare in this country. 





