The extinct Kiritimati Sandpiper Prosobonia cancellata is known from a single contemporaneous illustration by William Wade Ellis and a description by William Anderson. We reproduce Ellis' illustration for the first time, and we consider the illustration as almost in line with Anderson's description. Further, using both Anderson's work and Ellis' illustration, we prepared a description of the bird to replace Latham's interpretation of the depiction. Finally, we show that Kiritimati Sandpiper possessed several unique morphological characters.