When, in 1902, I got the first specimen of the Hudsonian godwit here, the late Captain Hutton wrote in an interesting manner of the various routes the bird could have followed in coming. As he then said, the bird could have come from. Alaska via Siberia, the coast of Chink, the Malay Archipelago, and Australia; but that, as it had not been recorded in Australia, it was strange that it should have been got in New Zealand. He points out the disadvantage that the “San Francisco route” has of one stretch of sea of over two thousand miles. Since then three more specimens of this godwit have been obtained here, though it is, so far as I can find out, still unrecorded from Australia. Another bird, the pectoral sandpiper, which has normally the same range as the Hudsonian godwit—namely, from Arctic America to Patagonia—has lately been fairly common here, though it also is unrecorded from Australia. Both of these species might, of course, have come to us from. Patagonia through the Antarctic, but this I regard as extremely improbable. I, personally, have little doubt that they came via Siberia and the eastern coast of China. We know very little at present of the course the plovers follow in the immediate vicinity of New Zealand. I have a record of golden plovers visiting a steamer between Sydney and Wellington, which would indicate that these birds had travelled well down the coast of Australia before crossing to New Zealand. On the other hand, the occurrence of the Hudsonian godwit, pectoral sandpiper, and little stint in New Zealand (see below), though they are not reported from Australia, suggests that perhaps these birds come via the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. By whatever course they came, I think we may take it for granted that these stragglers were accompanying some of our regular migrants, following their regular route.

Canutus canutus (Linnaeus), 1758. Knot.

Tringa canutus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p. 150, 1758; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 24, p. 593, 1896; Buller, Suppl. Birds N.Z., vol. 1, p. 187, 1905. Canutus canutus Mathews and Iredale, Ibis for April, 1913, p. 261; Ridgway, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. No. 50, pt. 8, p. 231, 1919.

In January of this year I stayed two days at the lighthouse on Farewell Spit. The bay inside the spit, where the tide recedes for a distance of nearly nine miles, is one of the great feeding-grounds for the migratory plover in New Zealand, and thousands of these birds were there at the time of my visit. The great majority were bar-tailed godwits and knots, but there was also quite a number of Eastern golden plover and turnstones. Even at that early date a few knot were beginning to moult into their summer plumage, but I saw no instance of this among the godwits. When the birds first arrive here they are very thin, and the ends of the wing-primaries are much worn. After they have moulted, however, they fatten rapidly, and by April are balls of fat. There can be no doubt that they use up this fat on the journey to their northern nesting-grounds. It is a curious thing that, though numbers of godwit winter every year in New Zealand, I know of no instance of a knot's having done so; also, I have never seen a godwit here in the winter in its summer plumage, so presumably only those birds stay which have to inclination to nest that year.

Pluvialis dominicus fulvus (Gmelin), 1789. Pacific golden plover.

Chadrius dominicus P. L. S. Müll, Natursyst., Suppl., p. 116, 1776. Charadrius fulvus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., p. 687, 1789. Chadrius dominicus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 24, p. 195, 1896; Buller, Suppl. Birds N.Z., vol. 1, p. 174. Pluvialis dominicus fulvus Mathews and Iredale, Ibis for April, 1913, p. 252; Ridgway, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. No. 50, pt. 8, p. 88, 1919.

The golden plover, which is a common annual migrant, does not pack into dense flocks as do the godwit and the knot, but is usually met with in rather thinly distributed companies. I have seen many hundreds of them at different times, but not more than a total of half a dozen showing any sign of the black breeding-plumage on the breast. In the third week of October, 1907, I was crossing from Sydney to Wellington, when we encountered a terrific southerly gale. During it, two golden plover came on board and took up their quarters on some cases of oranges on the after boat-deck. They stayed on board for two days, being protected from molestation by a sympathetic chief officer, and then left us. This is an interesting record, as showing how far south these birds sometimes come before crossing from Australia to New Zealand.

I will now give notes on some of the less-frequent visitors.

Mesoscolopax minutus (Gould), 1840. Little whimbrel.

Records.—(1.) Lake Ellesmere (June, 1900): Canterbury Museum. (2.) Lake Ellesmere (5th March, 1921): Canterbury Museum.

This bird, of which there is only one previous record in New Zealand (in 1900), has again been obtained. A specimen was shot at Lake Ellesmere by Mr. L. A. Shand on the 5th March, 1921, and presented to the Canterbury Museum. It is very like a golden plover in its winter plumage, and, excepting for its larger size and its longer and curved bill, might easily be mistaken for that bird at a distance. Both the specimens obtained are in full winter plumage.

Vetola haemastica (Linnaeus), 1758. Hudsonian godwit, or American black-tailed godwit.

Scolopax haemastica Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., pl 147, 1758. Limosa hudsonica Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 24, p. 388, 1896; Buller, Suppl. Birds N.Z., vol. 1, p. 185, 1905. Limosa limosa haemastica Mathews and Iredale, Ibis for April, 1913, p. 258. Vetola haemastica Ridgway, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. No. 50, pt. 8, p. 191, 1919.

Records for New Zealand.—(1.) British Museum. (2.) Canterbury Museum. (3.) Collection Edgar F. Stead. (4.) Canterbury Museum.

The first record of this bird in New Zealand was one which I shot near the mouth of the Selwyn in 1902. I did not see another until 1917, but in that year, at Lake Ellesmere, I saw a single specimen on two occasions.

On the 1st January, 1918, I again saw one near the same spot, and secured it, giving it to the Canterbury Museum. It was in full winter plumage, having none of the rusty breast-feathers which characterize the summer plumage. In February, 1919, I got another specimen, and on the 5th March, 1921, Mr. J. Fuller got one at Lake Ellesmere, giving it to the Canterbury Museum. The one first recorded (1902), which was sent by Lord Ranfurly to the British Museum, was changing into its summ [ unclear: ] er plumage, but the other three are in their winter plumage.

Pisobia ruficollis (Pallas), 1776. Red-necked sandpiper.

Trynga ruficollis Pallas, Reis. Russ. Reichs, 3, p. 700, 1776. Limonites ruficollis Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 24, p. 545, 1896, Buller, Suppl. Birds N.Z., vol. 1, p. 186, 1905. Pisobia minuta ruficollis Mathews and Iredale, Ibis for April, 1913, p. 260. Pisobia ruficollis Ridgway, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. No. 50, pt. 8, p. 290, 1919.

Records.—(1.) Edgar F. Stead (January, 1902): British Museum. (2.) Edgar F. Stead (22nd July, 1902): Canterbury Museum.

In the large suborder of the Limicolae there are many cases of two or more species which, while very different from one another in their summer plumage, are in their winter plumage very much alike. The little stint and the red-necked sandpiper form such a pair. Of almost the same size, and with very similar colouring in winter, they are yet readily separable in summer. It is therefore the more satisfactory that the one specimen of the red-necked sandpiper which we have in the Canterbury Museum is in nearly full summer plumage, so that there can be no doubt whatever of its identification. This bird I shot on the 22nd July, 1902, when it was in a large flock of banded dottrel. Earlier in the same year I had shot another bird for Lord Ranfurly, which was, I think, either this species or a little stint. Lord Ranfurly sent the specimen to the British Museum, and Mathews and Iredale, in their “Reference List of the Birds of New Zealand,” refer to it as having been “named by Grant as Tringa subarquata, who noted that it had been first identified by Captain Hutton as a pectoral sandpiper (Heteropygia acuminata), and subsequently referred by him to the red-throated stint (Limonites ruficollis). In view of such diverse attempts at nomination, this record requires reinvestigation.” It is curious that, as the specimen was readily accessible to them, they did not reinvestigate for themselves.

The specimen we have in the Canterbury Museum is well forward in its breeding-plumage, although it was shot in July; and I thought at the time, and still think, that this bird would have nested here.

Pisobia minuta (Leisler). Little stint.

Records.—(1.) Taieri Flat, Otago (1902): Smyth collection, Dunedin (now E. J. Haynes, Christchurch). (2) and (3). Edgar F. Stead: Canterbury Museum.

On the 8th February, 1910, I got at Lake Ellesmere a specimen of the little stint, which I presented to the Canterbury Museum, where it was

mounted and labelled as the first record for New Zealand. Subsequently, however, a specimen labelled “Taieri Flat, 1902,” was found in the Smyth collection, from Dunedin. This specimen is now in the possession of Mr. Haynes, taxidermist to the Canterbury Museum. Since then I have got five more specimens, of which I kept two in my collection and gave three to the Canterbury Museum. All the birds are in their winter plumage.

“It breeds in. great numbers,” says Seebohm in his Eggs of British Birds, “though very locally, on the Siberian tundra from Kolgneo Island and the North Cape eastward to the Taimur Peninsula … where it nests in July.” In the winter it migrates southward to Africa and southern Asia, India, and Ceylon. This is another of those birds which come to New Zealand, almost certainly via the Malay Archipelago, which have not yet been recorded from Australia.

Calidris alba (Pallas), 1764. Sanderling.

Trynga (alba) Pallas, Vroeg's Cat., p. 32, 1764 (Ridgway). Tringa arenaria Linn., Syst. Nat., 12th ed., 1766. Calidris arenaria Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 24, p. 526. Calidris alba Ridgway, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. No. 50, pt. 8, p. 308, 1919.

Record.—Edgar F. Stead (1st January, 1917): Canterbury Museum.

On the 7th January, 1917, I was at Lake Ellesmere and saw a strange bird, which I followed and finally secured. It proved to be a sanderling— the first record for New Zealand. I gave the bird to the Canterbury Museum, where it is now mounted. It is in full winter plumage, and, being so, is very like our wry-billed plover both in size and colouring. A very close examination with a good pair of field-glasses would be necessary to detect the difference between a sanderling and a wrybill in the open, if both birds were in their winter or their immature plumage. The sanderling is to be found nesting in the high north, all around the Pole, wandering in the winter southward to Africa, India, Burma, Australia and South America. It is known to nest in Grinnell Land (lat. 82° 33′), Greenland, the barren lands of North America, Alaska, the Taimur Peninsula, the delta of the Yenisei, Novaya Zemlya, and Iceland.

Pisobia acuminata (Horsfield), 1821. Sharp-tailed sandpiper.

Totanus acuminatus Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc., vol. 13, p. 192, 1821 (Java). Heteropygia acuminata Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 24, p. 566, 1896; Buller, Suppl. Birds N.Z., vol. 1, p. 187, 1905. Pisobia maculata acuminata Mathews, Ibis for April, 1913, p. 260. Pisobia acuminata Ridgway, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. No. 50, pt. 8, p. 276, 1919.

Buller (Suppl., vol. 1, p. 187) refers to the marsh or sharp-tailed sandpiper as being very numerous in the Bay of Plenty. I feel sure that it is not so in Canterbury, for up to the present I have secured only one specimen, which is now in the Canterbury Museum.

Pisobia maculata (Vieillot) 1819. Pectoral sandpiper.

Tringa maculata Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d'Hist. Nat., 34, p. 465, 1819. Heteropygia maculata Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 24, p. 562, 1896. Pisobia maculata Ridgway, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. No. 50, pt. 8, p. 269, 1919.

Records.—(1.) Lake Ellesmere (February, 1909): Edgar F. Stead. (2), (3), (4). Lake Ellesmere: Edgar F. Stead. (5.) (Immature specimen) Lake Ellesmere (5th March, 1920): Edgar F. Stead—Canterbury Museum.