Okdee LIMICOLiE.] 
[Fam. CHAEADEIIDJi. 
HiEMATOPUS TJNICOLOE. 
(BLACK OYSTER-CATCHER.) 
Ilwmatopus unicolor, Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 1320. 
IIcBmatopus fuliginosus, Gould, B. of Austr. vi. pi. viii. (1848). 
Ilmmatopus niger oceanicus, Bonap. C. R. xliii. p. 420 (1856). 
HcBmatopus niger aiistralasianus, Bonap. C. R. xliii. p. 420 (1856). 
Ilcematopus niger, Ellman, Zool. 1861, p. 7469. 
Native name. — Torea-pango. 
Ad. ubique niger, remigibus et caudd brunnescentibus, scapis primarioriim ad basin albidis : rostro corallino, apice 
flavicanti-corneo : pedibus pallide rubris : iride et regione oculari coccineis. 
Adult male. The whole of the plumage glossy brownish black, with faint metallic reflections on the back and 
wings. Irides and bare eyelids crimson ; bill coral-red, changing to yellowish horn-colour at the tips of both 
mandibles j tarsi and toes pale red. Length 19 inches ; wing, from flexure, 10'5 ; tail 4’25 ; bill, along 
the ridge 3'5, along the edge of lower mandible 3'6; tarsus 2'2o ; middle toe and claw 1'75. 
Female. Similar to the male, but somewhat smaller and more strongly tinged with brown, especially on the 
under surface. 
Young. Uniform dull brownish black, the feathers of the back and the wing-coverts narrowly margined with 
fulvous brown. Bill and feet dull red, the former brown in its outer portion. 
Chick. Covered with down of a uniform blackish-brown colour ; bill and feet dull brown. 
Var. Mr. Robson informs me that he saw a perfect albino of this species at Portland Island, in the month of 
October. It came near enough for him to observe the red colour of its irides, but he was unfortunately 
without a gun at the time, and never saw it again. 
Obs. Examples are not unfrequently met with exhibiting a white abdomen and a dull whitish bar on the wings, 
or with this alar bar wholly wanting. It is not unlikely that this is due to hybridism j for the two species 
are often seen associated. The following is a description of one of these parti-coloured birds in the Canter- 
bury Museum : — Head, neck, fore part of breast, and all the upper surface black ; an indistinct alar bar and 
the tips of some of the upper tail-coverts white ; lower part of breast, sides of the body, flanks, abdomen, 
axillary plumes, and under tail-coverts largely varied with white. 
This species, which also occurs in Australia, is far more abundant in the southern parts of New 
Zealand than the Pied Oyster-catcher, and not uncommon in the northern parts also. On the ocean- 
beach between Waikanae and Otaki, within a stretch of ten miles, I have counted as many as fifty in 
the course of a morning’s ride. Its habits are precisely the same as those of H. longirostris, with 
which it associates freely, frequenting the same feeding-grounds and often breeding in the same 
locality. It swims with facility and when wounded will elude pursuit by diving, often remaining 
under the surface a considerable time. 
It has the same peculiar habit of courtship as that mentioned in my account of II. longirostris-, 
