Order CHAKADRIIFORMES.] 



[Family CHARADBIID.E. 



gallinago aucklandica. 



(AUCKLAND-ISLAND SNIP^J.) 





Gallinago aucklandica (Gray), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 32. 



I have in my collection several examples of this rare Snipe (both male and female) from the 

 Auckland Islands, and I find that the sexes are exactly alike in plumage. In an adult pair the 

 female has the bill 0*25 inch longer than in the male ; but this is usual with the Snipes. 

 I he length of the bill, however, is a very uncertain character; for another specimen in my 

 collection, brought to me (in spirit) from the Auckland Islands, has a bill measuring 3 in. from 

 the angle of the mouth to the tip, and 2'6 in. along the culmen. 



As will be seen under that heading, I am in doubt about the propriety of recognising G. 

 huegek. An adult male obtained by Mr. Jennings during a visit to the Snares is undistinguish- 

 able from Gallinago auchlanclica ; and a very young bird of this species (partly in down) in the 

 Otago Museum is striated in a similar manner to the so-called G. huegek. 



In a communication to ' The Ibis ' relating to Gallinago huegek, Canon Tristram made the 

 following remarks : " There would appear to be three species of Gallinago in the islands round 

 New Zealand : G. auchlanclica in the Aucklands, G. pusilla in the Chathams, and G. huegek in 

 the Snares, all being sedentary, or nearly so, in their several localities. To these, further research 

 will probably add a fourth from Antipodes Island, whence a single specimen has been received 

 by Sir James Hector, who states it to be larger, darker in plumage, and with a more curved bill 

 than the Auckland-Island species. Unfortunately he has not described it." Shortly after this a 

 specimen was obtained by the Hon. Walter Eothschild, who described it at a meeting of the 

 B.O.C., and dedicated it to Canon Tristram. ('Ibis,' 1874, p. 294.) 



Dr. Sharpe says (' Catalogue of Birds,' vol. xxiv., p. 662) : " Mr. Walter Eothschild has kindly 

 allowed me to examine his large series of the Auckland-Island Snipes and their allies. I find 

 that the type of his G. tristrami, from Antipodes Island, is a rufous specimen of the true 

 Auckland-Island form, though at first sight it looks very distinct. Since he first described the 

 species, however, Mr. Eothschild has received several more specimens from Antipodes Island, 

 and he now agrees with me that G. tristrami cannot be separated specifically from G. auck- 

 landica" 



Dr. Finsch, evidently mistaking my G. pusilla for this bird, writes : " Gallinago aucklandica, 

 Gray : I have examined a pair from the Chatham Islands forwarded by Dr. Hector." 



Cx A L L I N A G ( ) PUSILLA. 



(CHATHAM-ISLAND SNIPE.) 



Gallinago pusilla, Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 33. 



I am more than ever satisfied of the distinctness of this species. I have received further 

 examples of both sexes ; and there are nearly fifty specimens in the Eothschild collection, all 

 from the Chatham Islands. 





