766 



NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



ORDERLIMICOL/E: PLOVERS, &c. 



FAMILY— (EDICNEMID^ ; THICK-KNEES. 



592. — BuRHiNTS (OSdicnemus) grallarius, Latham. — (496) 

 STONE PLOVER. 



Fiffure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. 5. 



Ktlcrence. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxiv., p. 18. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould : Birds of Australia {1848) , 

 also Handbook, vol. ii., p. 211 (1865); Harting : Proc. Zool. 

 Soc, p. 45S (1S74) ; Ramsay : Proc. Zool. Soc, p. 335 (1S77) ; 

 North : Austn. Mus. Cat., with fig., p. 297 (1889) ; Campbell : 

 Proc. Austn. Assoc, vol. v., p. 423 (1893). 



Geoc/raphirnl Di-sfrihufiim. — Whole of Au.stralia and Tasmania 

 (accidental).* 



Xe.^f. — Eggs are deposited on the bare gi'ound. 



Ef/(/-i. — Clutch, usually two, in two known instances three ; elegant in 

 shape and inchned to oval ; shell thin and comparatively fine in texture ; 

 surface slightly glossy ; colour, pale-stone or light-buff, blotched all over, 

 sometimes with large markings of luiiber and dull-slate. In some sets the 

 markings are smaller or finer in character. In a handsome pair taken on 

 the WciTibee Plains, Victoria, the umber coloviring predominates on one 

 example, while on the other the dull-slate has prominence. There is a 

 perceptible difference in specimens from Western Australia, which are 

 warmer in general tone of colour, shorter in length, and decidedly 

 rounder in shape. Dimensions in inches of proper clutches from Eastern 

 and Western Australia : — 



(Plate 21.) 



OJntervalioriK. — The Stone Plover, erroneously called a " Ctu'lcw," is 

 a well-known bird, being common to the whole of Australia. It is so 



• Two birds are reported to have been obtained in Tasmania— one at Spring 

 Bay. April, i8qs. and the other at Swansea, July following Proc. Roy Soc. 

 Tasmania, p. xxiii. (1894-5). 



