Ordeb LIMICOL^.J 
[Fam. SCOLOPACID^. 
TEINGA ACUMINATA. 
(SANDPIPER.) 
Totanus acuminatus, Horsf. Linn. Trans, xiii. p. 192 (1820). 
Tringa australis, Jard. & Selb. 111. Orn. vol. ii. pi. 91 (1829). 
Schceniclus australis. Gray, List of Birds in Brit. Mus. Coll, part iii. p. 105 (1844). 
Limnocinclus acuminatus, Gould, Handb. B. of Austr. vol. ii. p. 254 (1865). 
Tringa acuminata, Salvin, Cat. Strickl. Coll. p. 610 (1882). 
■Ad. supr^ nigricans, plumis anguste albido vel arenario marginatis : collo postico magis cinerascente : dorso postico 
et uropygio cum supracaudalibus nigris, vix arenario limbatis : tectricibus alarum remigibusque nigrican- 
tibus, albido vel pallidb arenario marginatis, tectricibus majoribus et secundariis conspicue albo marginatis et 
terminatis : remigum scapis albis : secundariis intimis latb arenario-rufo marginatis : rectricibus cinerascenti- 
brunneis, albido limbatis et terminatis, subterminaliter nigricantibus, a scapis albidis : pileo rufo, nigro vario : 
loris, supercilio et facie laterali albis, angustissime nigro punctatum lineatis : gul^ et corpore reliquo subtus 
albis, prsepectore et pectore superiore arenario-fulvis illo anguste nigro lineato : pectoris summi lateribus 
quoque nigricante striolatis : subalaribus albis, imis cinerascentibus albo interne marginatis et terminatis. 
Adult. Crown of tbe head and lores dull rufous ; each feather centred with brown ; nape, hind neck, and the 
whole of the mantle brownish grey slightly tinged with rufous, each feather largely centred with dark browm, 
which gradually fades into grey ; lower part of back, rump, and upper tail-coverts blackish brown, slightly 
margined with rufous j wing-feathers dark brown with white shafts, the superior coverts largely tipped, and 
the secondaries narrowly margined with white j small wing-coverts dull brown with greyish margins ; tail- 
feathers hlackish brown, with a narrow margin of fulvous white j line over the eye, chin, and throat white ; 
sides of the head dark grey, speckled with brown ; the whole of the fore neck fulvous grey, speckled with 
brown, and more distinctly on the outer sides j breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts fulvous white, the 
latter with a streak of brown down the shafts ; sides of the body, axillary plumes, and inner lining of wings 
pure white ; towards the outer edges of the wing mottled with brown. The outermost upper tail-coverts 
also are white, with a lanceolate streak of brown down the eentre. Irides black ; bill brown, changing to 
olive at the base; legs and feet yellowish olive. Length 7 inches; wing, from flexure, 5T5 ; tail 2T5; 
bill, along the ridge '95, along the edge of lower mandible 1'05 ; bare tibia '5; tarsus I'l; middle toe 
and claw 1'2; hallux and claw ‘3. 
Young. Gould states that the young of the year are similarly marked to the adult in winter plumage, but have 
the greater portion of the feathers, and particularly those of the crown and the tertiaries, margined with 
sandy red and white, and the breast washed with buff. 
Only a few examples of this bird, which is common enough in Australia and Tasmania, have occurred 
in New Zealand, and, so far as I am aware, all of these on the east coast of the South Island. 
In its native country it is generally to be met with on the grassy sides of lagoons and in wet 
marshy places, where it may be seen diligently hunting for aquatic insects and their larvae, on which 
kind of food it principally subsists. 
The Canterbury Museum contains four specimens (two of each sex), obtained on the shores of 
Lake Ellesmere, which is separated from the sea only by a narrow neck of sandy ground. 
