study of the species at all ages and at all seasons of the year, noting the changes of plumage that occur, and tracing their progress from youth to maturity.

The present paper is intended to be a contribution of this sort, but as I have not collected or dissected any of the specimens referred to, it would be manifestly unfair to hold me responsible for the data. Particulars of season, sex, etc., I have been compelled to take on trust.

For the purposes of this examination I have had before me forty-three specimens, in different conditions of plumage, belonging to the Canterbury Museum.

There is no difficulty whatever in separating Himantopus leucocephalus, which is distinguished from H. novœ-zealandiœ in the somewhat similar seasonal plumage by its purer and well defined colours, its smaller bill, and appreciably shorter toes and claws. Of course specimens vary, and in a series like the present we meet with large examples of H. leucocephalus and small examples of H. novœ-zealandiœ, but the general rule holds good throughout. The young are readily distinguished by the enlargement towards the distal end of the tarsus (a provision for the future lengthening of this bone), which diminishes with the growth of the bird. There are two fledglings in the collection, and as the description of the “young” given in my Birds of New Zealand (p. 203) is taken from a somewhat older bird, I append the following notes:—

H. leucocephalus, juv.—Crown of the head, back, and upper surface of the wings brownish-black, tinged more or less with brown, and many of the feathers being narrowly tipped with greyish-white; hind neck greyish-white, mottled with black in its lower portion; forehead, foreneck, and all the under surface, as well as the rump, white; the whole of the quills black, the inferior primaries and the secondaries narrowly tipped with white; tail-feathers black, edged with fulvous, and white at the base. (Obtained at Rakaia, Nov. 1872. Weight, 6oz.)

Of Himantopus novœ-zealandiœ I have given in the Birds of New Zealand (pp. 205–206) descriptions of the summer, winter, and adolescent states of plumage, and under the head of “Remarks” I have referred to the numerous transitional states which have led to so much confusion in regard to this species. The description there given, however, of the adult in winter, I wish now to qualify by stating that the uniform dark plumage on the abdomen is by no means a constant character.

First of all, as a result of my present examination, I feel bound to dismiss Himantopus spicatus, Potts, as having no claim, whatever, to the rank of a species. The type specimen is now before me, and the distribution of colours

(as may be seen on reference to the published description) ^* indicates a transitional condition. The extra length of leg (as compared with H. novæ-zealandiæ) appears to be rather in the tibia than in the tarsus. Mr. Potts makes the black neck and breast his distinguishing feature, but there is another bird in the collection (a male) in which the tarsus is 4 inches, and the tibia 2 inches–altogether a bird of smaller proportions–in which the distribution of colours is the same, although there is a less extent of black on the breast.

I have already described (l.c., p. 204) the young of this species from two young specimens in the Canterbury Museum, the parentage of which was placed beyond all doubt by Mr. Fuller, who secured at the same time the two old birds in black summer plumage. I may add that these latter are still in the collection; the male is perfectly black, and the female slightly pied.

A more matured example of the young bearing the following label, “Shot in Bottle Lake, Jan. 28, 1872; juv.–female; parent bird black,” presents a general resemblance to the young of Himantopus leucocephalus, but on a close comparison the following differences are observable:–The crown is lighter, being of an almost uniform ash-grey; there is more greyish-white, between the shoulders, and the tail-feathers instead of being black are ashy-white, the outer ones having a broad sub-apical mark of dark-grey; and the axillary plumes, under the wings, instead of being black are pure white; there are fewer light margins on the wing-coverts; and the inferior primaries and the secondaries are more largely tipped with white. Some of these differences, however, may be due to the fact that this is a somewhat older bird. In the other specimens, mentioned above, the axillars are black, as in the young of H. leucocephalus.

The collection contains nine perfectly black specimens. Of these eight are males; and, according to the labels, all of them were killed in summer. Out of twelve other specimens more or less pied with white, only three are females, all of these (of both sexes) being also summer birds. The extent of white, however, varies considerably in birds shot at one and the same time, some exhibiting only a few white feathers on the neck and breast, whilst in others the white predominates. This irregularity of plumage may perhaps be accounted for on the supposition that the birds do not undergo the complete change at their first seasonal moult, but at some later period–say in their second or third year.

There are two specimens in the collection which are of more than ordinary interest, because they are quite distinct in appearance from either H. leucocephalus or H. novæ-zealandiæ in their full plumage, and cannot, so far as I at

present see, be a transitional state of either of those species. One of these, presented to the Museum by the late Dr. Barker, bears the following label:– “Orari, Feb. 16, 1872, male,” and appears to be in full adult plumage. The other, which is labelled, “Saltwater Creek, April, 1873, male,” is apparently a less matured bird. On observing certain indications of a change from black to white in the latter, I at first supposed that the white head and neck might represent the true winter plumage of Himantopus novæ-zealandiœ; but, as directly opposed to this view, Dr. Barker's specimen, which I am disposed to make the type of a new species, was killed towards the end of summer. In this bird the entire head and neck, with the breast and under parts are pure white; rump and upper tail-coverts also white; back, scapulars and upper surface of wings and tails glossy black, the inferior primaries and the secondaries tipped with white; under surface of wings and the axillary plumes black. Total length, 14.25 inches; wing from flexure, 9.25; tail, 3; bill along the ridge, 2.6, along the edge of lower mandible, 2.9; bare tibia, 2.2; tarsus, 3.75; middle toe and claw, 1.5.

In selecting a specific name for this bird I have adopted that of H. albicollis because is exactly expresses the feature which distinguishes it from the two others, viz., its having the neck entirely white. The same name was applied to a Stilt Plover by Vieillot, but this has proved to be only a synonym of H.autumnalis, and the title is therefore free again.

The series of specimens under consideration is unfortunately very deficient in examples killed in winter, and the examination of the subject therefore has not been as complete or exhaustive as I would wish; but two points at any rate have been gained, namely, the elimination from our list of Himantopus spicatus (which proves to be no species at all) and the placing on record of a hitherto undescribed form–the White-necked Stilt–which, so far as our present evidence goes, is a good and valid species. To my mind it is perfectly clear that it is either H. novœ-zealandiœ, in the mature winter plumage, hitherto unknown, or it is a distinct species; and if Dr. Barker's specimen is rightly labelled as killed in summer, that fact alone is sufficient to disprove the former assumption. The general results are embodied in the following synopsis:–