NESTS AAD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 8ui 



Sub-family — Himantopodin-e : Stilts, &c. 



615. HlMANTOPUS LEUCOCEPHALUS, Gould. (i'llT) 



WHITE-HEADED STILT. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol, vi,, pi. 24. 



Reference.— Cal. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxiv., p. 317. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Ramsay : I'roc. Zool. Soc, p. 600 



(1867I ; Potts • Trans. New Zealand Inst., vol. ii., p. 70 (1870) ; 



Duller ■ Birds of New Zealand (1873), also vol. ii., p 23 (iS88) ; 



Hartinj.' : Proc. Zool. Soc, p. 459 (1S74) ; North : Austn. Mus. 



Cat., pi. 17, fig. 3 (1889); Campbell- Proc. \ustn. Assoc, 



vol. v., p. 440 (1893). 



Ge.ngrapliiciil Distribution. — Whole of Australia and Tasmania; also 

 New Guinea and Moluccas. 



Xest. — Composed of aquatic herbage, grass, twigs, &c., built nine or 

 ten inches above the shallow water of a swamp. Dimensions, about 

 seven inches across the top, and one and a half inches deep in the 

 centre. In some instances, or according to the locality, the nest is 

 merely a depression (about five inches across by one inch deep) in the 

 gi'ound, on diy land, lined with a few pieces of grass. 



Eggs. — Clutch, foiu- ; pyriform in shape ; textiu'e of shell com- 

 paratively fine ; siuiace slightly glossy ; colour yellowisli-olive or greenish 

 stone, heavily blotched, spotted, and occasionally streaked with dark- 

 umber or sepia, interspersed with dull gTcyish-black. Dimensions in 

 inches of proper clutches : A (1) 1-88 x 1-25, (2) 1-83 x 1-24, (3) 1-8 x 1-26, 

 (4) 1-78 X 1-28; B (1) 1-78 x M6, (2) 1-75 x 1-16, (3) 1-72 x M8, 

 (4) 1-7 X 1-2. (Plate 23.) 



Ohservations. — This Stilt Plover is found in cveiy State of Australia, 

 and in Tasmania. But its appearance in certain localities seems to^ be 

 regulated, like that of so many other birds, by the wet seasons. Its 

 dress is easily described as white, except the wings, back, and a portion of 

 the back of the neck, which are glossy black. The lengthened legs are 

 pink ; the eyes are matched of the same colour. From its black and 

 white plumage it is sometimes called the Pied Stilt, and is about the 

 same size as the Banded Stilt. 



In Dr. Ramsay's interesting remarks on this species, we read that 

 " in 1865 large flocks arrived in company with the Straw-necked and 

 White Ibises, and took up their abode in the lagoons and swamps in the 

 neighbourhood of Grafton, on the Clarence River, where, on my visit 

 to that district in September, 1866, all three species were still enjoying 

 themselves. A few days previous to my arrival in Grafton, a black in 

 the employ of Mr. J . Macgillivray, and a. very intelligent collector, dis- 

 covered a nest of this species containing foiu- eggs, which have been 

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