258 
Mr. J. E. Harting on rare 
Diagn. R. alba; capita, collo, pectore, abdomine, subala- 
ribus et crisso, dorso et uropygio pure albis; scapularibus, 
interscapuliis. alis et cauda fuscescenti-nigris; rostro nigro ; 
iride coccinea; pedibus caeruleis: long. tot. circa 18*9 poll., 
rostr. 3*2, alae 9*6, tib. nud. 1*3, tars. 3*4, dig. med. 1*7. 
Tbe above diagnosis I have prepared from tbe description 
given by Herren Philippi & Landbeck. Translated from 
the German, the brief account which they give of the bird is 
as follows:— 
“Head and neck white; mantle, wings, and tail black; 
feet bluish grey. 
“ The wings do not quite reach to the end of the tail. The 
tibia is bare for 1*3 inch. The bill is horn-black at the ex¬ 
tremity, graduating into horn-brown. Iris bright red. Tarsus 
bluish grey; claws black. Head, neck, breast, belly under 
wing- and under tail-coverts, lower part of back and rump, 
flanks and thighs, pure snowy white. Upper part of back, 
shoulders, wings, tail, and upper tail-coverts brownish black; 
the greater wing-coverts and primaries with greenish black 
reflections, but without any white .” 
They add, “ this pretty Avocet, which cannot be mistaken 
for any other species, was obtained by the late Herr Frobeen, 
of Arica, at a lake at Paruncota, in the Andes, 16,000 feet 
above the sea-level, and only one specimen procured in June 
1863. The birds were very shy, and the air so cold and thin, 
that collecting there was attended with great difficulty."” 
As I have already stated at the commencement of the pre¬ 
sent article the reasons which have led me to regard R. an - 
dina as a good species, I need only remark, in addition, how 
extremely desirable it is that the attention of ornithologists 
in South America should be directed towards its rediscovery, 
with a view to ascertain its geographical range and some¬ 
thing more than its original discoverer has been able to supply 
from the acquisition of a single specimen. 
RecTJRVIROSTRA NOViE-HOLLANDIiE, Vieillot. 
Recurvirostra novce-hollandice, Vieillot, N. D. dffiist. nat. 
iii. p. 103 (1816); Buller, Birds N. Zealand, p. 201 (1872). 
