between Otaki and Waikanae. At first sight I took it to be a very small specimen of the Banded Dotterel (Charadrius bicinctus), several specimens of which were lying near, but observing that the colouration of the feet, breast, and head differed very much from that of C. bicinctus, I carefully preserved the skin.

Having since made a minute examination, I have not the slightest hesitation in pronouncing it to be a specimen of Gould's Hiaticula ruficapilla; it appears to be a very common Australian species.

Mr. Gould, in his “Handbook to the Birds of Australia,”^* states:—“The Red-capped Dotterel is universally dispersed over every part of the sea-shores of Australia that I have visited, and everywhere evinces a greater preference for the shingly beach of the ocean, and especially for deep salt-water bays, than for the sides of rivers and inland waters; it is very numerous in Tasmania, on Flinders' Island, on the sand-banks at the mouth of the Hunter in New South Wales, and at Port Adelaide in South Australia; and Gilbert states that it is equally abundant in Western Australia, where it is likewise so strictly a bird of the coast that he never saw it inland. It is usually met with in pairs, but may be occasionally observed associating in small companies:—

“Like the Tringœ, this bird resorts to every possible device in order to lure the intruder from its nest; throwing itself down upon its breast and flapping its wings, as if in the agonies of death, it will so continue until he has approached almost near enough to place his hand upon it, when it moves along for several yards, dragging one of its legs behind, and, if still followed, attempts to fly, and so well imitates the motion of a bird wounded in the wing, that the intruder is easily misled, and the eggs remain undiscovered.”

“The male has the forehead crossed by a broad band of white, which gradually diminishes to a point at the posterior angle of the eye; above, a band of black, which also diminishes to a point at the same place; from the angle of the mouth to the eye, a line of black, which is continued from the posterior angle of the eye down the sides of the neck; crown of head, nape, and back of neck, rich rusty red; all the upper surface and wings pale brown, each feather margined with a still lighter tint: primaries, blackish-brown; the shafts and extreme edge of the inner webs white; four central tail-feathers dark brown, the remainder white; all the under surface white; irides very dark brown; bill dark reddish brown; naked part of legs above the tarsi dark greenish grey, tarsi light grey; feet blackish brown.”

The example before us is probably an accidental straggler to our shores from Australia, it is, however, a very interesting addition to our list of New Zealand birds.