10 
E. Gray, in his List of Nevv-Zealand Birds (July 1862), pronounced the curved bill a mere deformity, 
adding “ the bill is perfectly straight in most specimens,” a statement which appears to have been 
purely hypothetical. Mr. Harting, in an able paper “On Eare or Little-known Limicolse,” was the 
first to clear up the confusion in which the species had become involved, and to claim for it a proper 
recognition as the type of a genus quite distinct from Charadrius, in which it had been placed by 
Gray and other modern authors. Mr. Harting’s paper had the effect of calling special attention to 
this singular species on the part of local observers ; and thus a bird which had up to that period 
been deemed of rare occurrence was found to have a very general distribution along our shores, in all 
suitable localities, in both the North and South Islands. It is generally met with in small flocks on the 
smooth ocean-beach, or on the broad sand-banks and shingle-beds at the mouths of our tidal rivers, 
where it feeds upon minute crustaceans, fluviatile insects, and other marine life, for the capture of 
which its peculiar bill is specially adapted. 
In the North Island the Wry-billed Plover is particularly plentiful during the spring and winter 
months on the extensive sand-banks at the mouth of the Kaipara, on the mud-flats of the Manukau 
basin*, in the Bay of Plenty, and on the ocean-beach between Waikanae and Wanganui, where 
numerous tidal streams and rivers discharge their waters. In the South Island it is abundant in 
Queen Charlotte’s Sound, and both at the mouths and along the shingle-beds of all the snow-rivers 
that find their outlet eastward. 
At a little distance it is scarcely to be distinguished from the Banded Dottrel, with which it 
freely associates, but it is of a smaller and plumper form, and on a nearer view may be recognized by 
the absence of the red pectoral band, so conspicuous in the last-named species. It is likewise more 
approachable and less inclined to take wing. It runs along the sands in front of you, and utters no 
sound, whereas the last-named bird emits at brief intervals a “ click ” or short call-note. I have 
observed also that these birds have not the same habit of bobbing their heads when they stop running. 
They run with marvellous celerity, their little black legs, when viewed sideways, appearing to revolve 
like the spokes of a wheel. On the wing, the flocks form such compact bodies that ten or more may 
be killed at a single shot. At nesting-time they emit a low purring sound. 
It breeds early in the spring, but not so soon as the Banded Dottrel, and is even tamer then than 
at other times, being always very reluctant to take wing. 
On its reproduction Mr. Potts writes : — “ Its nesting-place would be discovered with very 
little difficulty, were it not for the wonderful instinct it exhibits in selecting the ground for depositing 
its eggs. They are simply laid, without any preparation, amongst the pebbles of some river-bed 
usually, and never far from water ; and so well does their grey tint harmonize with the general 
colour of the shingle around them, that their detection would be almost hopeless if the bird were less 
confident The young, if undisturbed, remain for some time near the spot where they were 
hatched ; to escape observation they lie concealed behind stones, and should an attempt be made to 
molest them, they start off with considerable celerity, uttering at the same time a shrill piping cry 
of alarm. When hard pressed they take to the water; and I have known them to cross a stream of 
considerable volume So tame does the Anarhynchus become under the influence of parental 
instinct that after eggs have been picked up, examined, and replaced on their unsheltered sandy 
bed, I have seen the old bird immediately resume her duty of incubation, although I may have 
removed but a few paces distant, and remained in sight for some time.” 
There are three eggs of this species in the Canterbury Museum, all exactly alike both in form 
and colouring. They are broadly ovoido-conical, or slightly pyriform, measuring 1-35 inch in length 
by 1'05 in breadth, and of a delicate greenish stone-grey, freckled over their entire surface with 
purplish brown. 
* Mr. Cheeseman writes to me : — “ At Manukau I have, on some occasions, seen as many as 200 or 300 together ; hut this is 
quite unusual, the flocks in that locality generally numbering from 10 to 20 birds.” 
