was also met with at Otaheite, Uliatea, and Tonga Tabu, and he seems to have discri- 

 minated between it and the ally with which it has often been confounded, as both are 

 said by him to have occurred at the island last named. It has, however, been made 

 pretty clear, chiefly by the labours of Dr. Stejneger, that the present species prevails 

 over the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, breeding in Alaska ; while the true 

 Totanus brevipes has its home in Asia, and during the winter months overruns the 

 more westerly shores and islands of the same ocean. There is no doubt that T. incanus 

 visits the Sandwich Islands, and as yet there is no authority for believing that T. brevipes 

 occurs there. I met with the former on several parts of the Kona coast on Hawaii, 

 where it is usually seen in pairs. 



The main points of distinction, according to Dr. Stejneger, are as follows : — In the 

 larger H. incana the nasal groove extends to one third of the exposed part of the 

 culmen, in H. brevipes only to half. In the barred stage of the former (presumably 

 the breeding-plumage) the back is greyish, the middle of the abdomen and the under 

 tail-coverts distinctly and uniformly barred with blackish grey ; in the same state of the 

 latter the back is browner and the other parts mentioned pure white. In the unbarred 

 stage the grey and brown tints similarly prevail. 



A new genus, Heteroscelus, was proposed by Baird for these forms ; but this being 

 preoccupied in entomology, Dr. Stejneger suggested in its place Heteractitis. I prefer, 

 however, still to include them under Totanus. 



Judge Dole's note on T. incanus is : — "Frequent the shores singly or in pairs. Are 

 called Ulili by the natives, from their note, which is a clear utterance of that word." 

 Mr. Nelson, who gives a good account of it in his ' Report upon Natural History 

 Collections made in Alaska ' (p. 118), describes it as an unsuspicious bird with a flute- 

 like note, found solitary or three or four together on rocky parts of the coast ; in fact 

 its habits appear to be very much what those of the Common Eedshank would be in 

 an equally desolate region. 



The figure in the background is that of a bird which has not completed the first 

 year and shews signs of immaturity : the wings are not fully grown. 



