26 
of the young of this species. There can be no doubtj however^ that the young of H. novce zealandice is as I 
have described it, my examples exhibiting in every case that enlargement below the tarsal joint which, among 
birds of tliis group, is a sure indication of immaturity. 
This species was originally made known by Gould, who afterwards figured it in the Supplement to his 
‘ Birds of Australia,’ his description being founded on two specimens “killed at Port Nicholson,” 
both of which, hmvever, appear to have been in an immature state of plumage. 
It may readily be distinguished from the preceding species by its darker plumage and by its 
somewhat shorter legs. Its habits, however, are similar, excepting that it is less gregarious, associating 
in pairs rather than flocks, while it appears to prefer the dry shingle-beds to the lagoons and marshy 
grounds which constitute the favourite feeding-resorts of the other species. It is, moreover, a much 
rarer bird, although it is generally to be found in all the river-courses of the Wellington district and 
further south. Sir James Hector met with a solitary pair at Pai'engarenga, near the North Cape ; 
and Mr. Eobert Mair saw a flock of five at Kaipara, where it was considered by the natives an extremely 
rare visitant. A few pairs have for several years past frequented the Kotorua Lake ; but it is never 
seen on Lake Taupo, although the White-headed Stilt is extremely abundant there, single flocks 
sometimes numbering thirty or forty birds. In Eotomahana also, where the latter bird is very plentiful 
at all seasons of the year, the Black Stilt till within the last few years was rareiy seen. Pormerly rare, 
both this and the White-headed Stilt are now very plentiful in the Lake district. They appear to 
subsist cliiefly on the dead gnats that float on the surface of the water in the sulphur springs. These 
Plovers are continually to be seen wading about in the warm yellow water of these springs, feeding on 
the floating scum and on the small salamander worms which abound in such places. 
Captain Mair found them nesting on a small flat surrounded by hot springs ; but this was before 
the Tarawera eruption had devastated the district and obliterated the waters of Eotomahana. 
In a meadow near the pretty little township of Waipukurau I saw several perfectly black Stilt- 
Plovers associating closely with the AVhite-headed Stilt, and feeding amongst the grass ; they took 
no heed of the passing train, although within twenty yards of them. 
During the breeding-season these Stilts resort to every kind of subterfuge in order to draw intruders 
away from their nests. On the first a,larm they secrete their young behind a stone or in a tuft of 
grass, and then go through their sham performance, enacting the part of a wounded bird in dire distress, 
flapping their wings, as if unable to rise from the ground, then trailing their legs as if broken, and 
tumbling about within a few yards of their pursuers till a safe distance from the nest has been reached, 
when all disguise is thrown off and the birds mount in the air and make a long circuit overhead, to 
reconnoitre the ground. If surprised in a place where there is no cover, the young birds squat close to 
the ground, trusting for concealment to the harmony of colour, and so strong is this instinct of self- 
preservation that they will remain perfectly motionless even when touched by the hand. 
Mr. Potts records a nest, with three eggs, on Eakaia river-bed, on the 1 3th of September, and 
another, containing two, in the same locality, on the 14th of December; and in a note to myself 
he adds that he has seen the young as early as the middle of October. The eggs are of an elegant 
ovoido-conical form, measuring 1’8 inch in length by 1'3 in breadth, and of a warm yellowish- 
brown colour, handsomely marked over the entire surface with conspicuous spots of brownish black. 
There are good comparative series of the eggs of both this and the preceding species in the Canterbury 
Museum ; and the difference they exhibit is very manifest to the eye, although not easily described. 
Mr. Seebohm suggests that this species is the result of “ an intermarriage of llimanto^us leuco- 
ceplialus with ll.melanopterm” and he proposes to call it Himantopus leucoceplialus picatus-” but 
I think it would be extremely unsafe to adopt that view ; for, as a matter of fact, no one has yet 
recorded an instance of the Black Stilt and the White-headed species breeding together, which would 
follow as a matter of course on the supposition of hybridism. 
