260 Mr. J. E. Harting on little-known Limicolse. 
“ The sexes,” he continues, “ are alike in plumage, and 
differ but little in size;” and to this I may add that, so far 
as I have been able to judge from numerous specimens re¬ 
ceived at different times from various parts of Australia, the 
red or, rather, chestnut colour of the head and neck is retained 
throughout the year, though it becomes paler in the winter. 
We are at present without information as to its breeding- 
habits ; but its mode of nesting and the number and colour of 
its eggs are no doubt very similar to those of its better-known 
congeners. 
The Rev. Mr. Ewing, in his “ List of the Birds of Tas¬ 
mania,” published in the f Proceedings' of the Royal Society, 
Tasmania, includes the Red-necked Avocet amongst the 
wading birds found there; and Dr. Downing, in an article 
“ On Norfolk Island,” published in the same ‘ Proceedings/ 
refers to a single specimen of this bird which had been pro¬ 
cured at that lonely spot a year or two previously*. 
Regarding its occurrence in New Zealand, Mr. Buffer writes 
as follows :—“ In the summer of 1859-60,1 saw a small flock 
of them far up the course of the Ashburton River, and again 
in a small lagoon near the township of Timara, but not having 
a gun with me I was unable to secure any. In the same sea¬ 
son a specimen was shot by Mr. French on the tidal flats near 
the mouth of the Kaiapoi river, and this, unfortunately, was 
allowed to perish. Three years later I met with a flock, num¬ 
bering five or six, on the south-west of the Wellington pro¬ 
vince. They were very shy, rising high in the air on my at¬ 
tempting to approach them, and taking their course for the 
opposite side of Cookes Strait. Two specimens have been 
shot on the ocean-beach near Dunedin; and Dr. Richardson 
received another from the Whakatipu Lake, in the interior 
of the Otago province. A solitary one was shot on the mud¬ 
flats near Whangarei some years ago, and the skin was pre¬ 
served by Mr. George Burnett, who forwarded it to Europe.” 
The specimen from which Mr. Buffer's description was taken 
was killed on the mud-flats near Christchurch, Canterbury 
settlement, in 1864, and forwarded to him by Dr. Haast for 
* See also Ibis, 1861, p. 119. 
