

HIMANTOPUS KNTJDSENI. 



AEO 1 . 



Himantopus niffricollis?, Pelzeln, Verh. z.-b. Gesellsch. Wien, 1873, p. 159 (nee Vieillot). 

 Himantopus candidus, Dole, Hawaiian Alman. 1879, p. 52 (nee Bonnaterre). 



Himantopus knudseni, Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1887, p. 81, pi. vi. fig. 2 (errore kandseni 

 in plate) ; id. op. cit. 1888, p. 96 ; id. op. cit. 1889, p. 381. 



As cited above, Dr. Stejneger, to whom Mr. Knudsen sent specimens from Kauai, 

 described this bird as new in 1887, giving woodcuts by which it may be easily sepa- 

 rated from II. mexicanus ; his remarks, diagnosis, and table of relative measurements I 

 here quote, giving a figure from an example in my collection. He says : — 



" This species is most nearly related to the two American species, II. brasiliensis and 

 H. mexicanus, and differs from the last one in about the same degree as do the species 

 mentioned inter se, H. mexicanus being in a measure intermediate as far as the relative 

 amount of black and white in the coloration of the plumage is concerned. 



" H. knudseni, which I take great pleasure of naming in honor of Mr. Valdemar 

 Knudsen, who made the interesting collections upon which the present paper is based, 

 needs only comparison with H. mexicanus, and the most salient differences have already 

 been pointed out in the diagnosis 2 . I may add that I have before me 17 specimens 

 of the latter species, representing very fairly the individual and seasonal variation, as 

 well as that due to age and sex. The type of H. knudseni is evidently an old male. 



" The accompanying cuts (see Plate vi.) explain at a glance the different distribution 

 of black and white in the two species, and make a more detailed comparison super- 

 fluous. Suffice it to say, that in the whole series of H. mexicanus I have not found a 

 single individual that even approaches H. knudseni, and in none of them, old or young, 

 is the black mottling on the fore neck even indicated, the border-line between the 

 black of the hind neck and the white of the sides being quite abrupt. 



" The coloration of the tail is very peculiar, as already described in the diagnosis. 

 Only in a single specimen of H. mexicanus (No. 84669, from Florida) is there any 

 approach to the pattern exhibited by the type of H. knudseni, but the dusky markings 

 are not so large, nor so dark and well-defined. It may be, therefore, that these marks 

 have no diagnostic value. 



1 The natives on Molokai and Oahu gave me the name as " Kukuluaia," but I expect that " Aeo, ; ' given by 

 Mr. Knudsen, is more correct. 



2 Infra, p. 4. 



