(PLATE 35.)
_White-winged Sandpiper_ Latham, Gen. Syn. III, pt. 1, p. 172, pl.
LXXXII (1785--Otaheite and Eimeo).
_Tringa leucoptera_ Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, p. 678 (1788--ex Latham!);
Westermann, Bijdr. Dierk. I, p. 51, pl. 15 (1854--Figure of the type).
_Totanus leucopterus_ Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d'Hist. Nat. (Ed. II) VI,
p. 396 (1817).
_Calidris leucopterus_ Cuvier, Règne Anim. I, p. 526 (1829).
_Tringa pyrrhetraea_ Lichtenstein, Forster's descr. anim. p. 174
(1844--Otaheiti).
_Prosobonia leucoptera_ Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. XXXI, p. 562 (1850);
Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXIV, p. 525 (1896).
_Tringoides leucopterus_ Gray, Handl. B. III, p. 46 (1871).
_Phegornis leucopterus_ Seebohm, Geogr. Distrib. Charad. p. 452 pl. 18
(1888).
_Prosobonia ellisi_ Sharpe, Bull. B.O.C. XVI, p. 86 (1906--"Eimeo").
Dr. Sharpe's description, made from the type in the Leyden Museum, is as
follows: "Adult. General colour of upper surface blackish brown; the lower
back and rump ferruginous; centre tail-feathers blackish, the rest rufous,
banded with black, less distinctly on the two next the middle pair;
wing-coverts blackish, with a white spot near the carpal bend of the wing,
formed by some of the lesser coverts; crown of head blackish, the hind-neck
browner, mixed with black; sides of face brown, the lores and ear-coverts
slightly more reddish, behind the eye a little white spot; cheeks and under
surface of body ferruginous red, the throat buffy white. Length 6.7 inches,
culmen 0.9, wing 4.45, tail 2.15, tarsus 1.3 (Mus. Lugd.)"
We know nothing of this bird, but the one specimen in the Leyden Museum,
which is the type, or at least one of the types. As no other specimens have
been obtained for nearly a century and a quarter, there is every reason to
fear that this bird is extinct. My plate has been made up by Mr. Lodge from
the unpublished drawings of Ellis and Forster in the British Museum.
Habitat: Tahiti, and the adjacent islet of Eimeo.
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