PIED OYSTERCATCHER. 
Habitat : New South Wales. 
Nearly allied to the Hcematopus ostraUgus of England. 
It will be noticed tbat there is nothing in this description to indicate 
the grounds on which Gould separated the Australian bird : aU the 
distinctive features are missing from it, while he had overlooked the two 
prior names given, as cited above. 
In the Proc. Zool Soc. (Lond.) 1871, p. 405, Swinhoe introduced Hmmatopus 
osculans, writing : — 
On drawing up my last list and on finding our bird to be different from the European 
species, I set it down as H. longirostris, Gray, without, however, comparing specimens. 
Prof. Schlegel (Mus. des Pays-Bas) draws attention to my mistake, but identifies the bird 
with H. ostralegus. On careful comparison I find it intermediate. It has white on its 
primary quills, but not to such an extent as in H. ostralegus ; and it has the long bill, and 
black tips to its white upper tail-coverts as in H. longirostris, but the tip-spots are smaller. 
Thus holding an intermediate position between the two, it is impossible to class it with 
either species, and I would propose to separate it as above. 
Characters : — ^First three rectrices with black shafts, the fourth showing a little white, 
which increases and expands on the quills that follow (in H. ostralegus the white com- 
mences on the first quill, and in H. longirostris the shafts are all black). The upper tail- 
coverts that overlap the tail, tipped with black (pure white in H. ostralegus). Bill, from the 
forehead, 3.6 inches. These characters are taken from an adult male shot in Talien Bay 
in July. An immature bird shot in November at Swatow shows the same long bill, small 
extent of white on the wing, and dark tips to the extreme uropygials, but its dark parts are 
brown instead of black. Neither specimen has the white collar. This Oystercatcher 
breeds in North China (Talien Bay) and wanders down the coast in winter as far, at least, 
as Swatow. 
Von Martens {Ornith. Monatsh. 1897, p. 190) separated the New Zealand 
bird under the name Hmnatopus finscTii : — 
Diese Art diirfte dem Hcematopus longirostris Vieill. am nachsten stehen, unterscheidet 
sich aber von dieser australischen Art wesentlich durch die weisse Zeichmmg einiger 
Schwingen I., Ordung und durch die teilweise rein weissen Schwingen II. Ordnrmg. (Eemer 
hat das typische Stuck rein weisse Unterschenkel ; doch diirste dies kein Artkennzeichen 
sein, da bei zwei im Berliner Museum befindlichen, im iibrigen ganz gleichen Stii^ken die 
Unterschenkel schwarz gemischt sind). Von Hcematopus ostralegus Linn, und Hcematopus 
osculans Swinh. ist die neue Art durch den Margel der weissen Schafte an den Schwingen 
I Ordmmg imterscherden. Ganze Lange 440 mm. Eirste des Oberschnabels 85 mm. 
Fliigellange 250 mm. Schwanylange 110 mm. Tarsus 48 mm. 
Hab. Saltwater Creeks (Newseeland) 1 $. 
Two years later Rothschild described Hce7natopus reischelci Brit 
Ornith. Club, Vol. X., p. IV., 1899) with the following remarks : — 
Male ad. Differs from H. Longirostris Vieill. and H. finschi Martens, at first sight in 
having the lower back and rump black and not white, and the upper tail coverts being 
mixed black and white, not white. The bill is much longer than in a series of twenty- 
three specimens of H. longirostris in the Tring Museum, and appears stouter than the 
New Zealand specimens. 
Culmen 102 mm. ; wing 270, tarsus 60. 
H. longirostris, ^ ad. Culmen 75-85 mm. ; wing 245-255; tarsus 55. 
The type was shot in June 1885 at Kaiparu, New Zealand, by A. Reischek. 
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