96 
Letters , Announcements, fyc. 
Lastly tlie Natal bird is smaller than the Damara bird of 
the same sex, as will appear by the following measurements :— 
Wing from 
carpal joint. 
Tail. 
Tarsus. 
Middle 
toe s. u. 
in. lin. 
in. lin. 
lin. 
lin. 
C. brevicaudota <3, Damaraland 
2 4 
1 11 
10 
7 
C. brevicaudatci 5, Damaraland 
2 1 
1 9 
10 
7 
C. olivacea Natal .... 
1 11 
1 5 
10 
5 
I am yours, &c., 
J. H. Gurney. 
Dunipace House, Falkirk, 
October 2nd, 1873. 
Sir. —I have lately received the eggs of a few species of 
New-Zealand birds collected by my friend Mr. T. It. Cooke 
in the province of Canterbury. Possibly the following notes 
from the pen of the collector may prove of interest to you. 
You may rely on their accuracy. 
Casarca variegata. Paradise Duck. Maori name Pu - 
tangitangi. 
Three eggs. Nest with eight eggs, in schist rock on upper 
Waiko, nearly inaccessible in a horizontal fissure some 50 
feet from the ground. Nest lined with down. Thirty miles 
inland. December 13th, 1872. 
Porphyrio melanotus. Swamp-Hen. Pakeko. 
Five eggs. Nest in rushes or sedge or tussac in or very 
near water, like Waterhen’s. Bird lays five or six eggs. 
December 1872. 
HiEMATOPUs longirostris. Pied Oyster-catcher. Torea. 
Two eggs. Nest on bare shingle of Otaio river-bed, hard 
to find. A smaller (?) black variety* breeds, I fancy, on sea- 
beach. Skin of this bird also sent. 
Himantopus Nov^-zEALANDnE. Pied Stilt. Poaka. 
Six eggs. Nest on shingle of Otaio river-bed. Easy to 
find. Birds bold and noisy. Nest of drift-weed, fairly built. 
* Hcematopus unicolor (Wagler). 
