264 I.OlUVANELLIN.t;. 



the 2nJ November, i8S6, I obtained ei^ht egy;s on Pelican Island, Woolnorth. The nests were 

 built in the herbage covering the island above high-water mark, concave structures of seaweed 

 and dry herbage, and placed behind a tussock, under a shrub, or sometimes completely exposed. 

 There were not more than two eggs in any nest, and with one or two exceptions all were 

 perfectly fresh. Two fresh eggs were taken on the 12th I'ecember, 1886, from a nest of seaweed 

 on Circular Head, and two on the 21st December of the same year, on Crayfish Island." 



The nest is a shallow depression in the sand, lined with pieces of the surrounding herhage, 

 dried grass, seaweed, or debris, fragments of coral, or broken shells, etc. 



The eggs are usually two, rarely three in number for a sitting, varying from o\al to swollen 

 and elongate-oval in form, the shell being comparatively close-grained and slightly lustrous. 

 They vary from a pale yellowish-stone to a light brown in ground colour, over which as a rule 

 is fairly evenly distributed irregular-shaped dots, spots, blotches, short strealis and ill-shaped 

 figures of a blackish-brown or dull black, with which are intermingled a few markings of light 

 umber-brown and underlying spots and blotches of inky-grey; in some places two colours 

 partially overlie, one on top of the other, on others the outer markings are confluent, forming 

 large patches on different parts of the shell. Typically they are boldly blotched, but in some 

 instances specimens are found with the markings small and fairly rounded or oval in form. Of 

 such a type is a set taken by me on the 25th October, 1S83, near tlie Nobbys, Phillip Island, 

 Western Port Bay, \'ictoria. They measure: — Length (A) 2-65, x 173 inches; (B) 2-47 x 

 1-67 inches. A set of two taken on the 2nd Noveruber, 1886, by Dr. L. Ilolden, on Pelican 

 Island, lying off the north-western coast of Tasmania, measures: — Len.^th (A) 2-42 x 1-7 

 inches ; (B) 2-42 x 1-7 inches. A set of two taken by Mr. K. X. Atkinson measures: — Length 

 (A) 2-62 X 1-67 inches; (B)2-63 x i-72 inches. The eggs of the Sooty Oyster-Catcher resemble 

 very much those of the previous species. Typically, however, they may be distinguished by their 

 darker ground colour and larger size. 



October and the three following months constitute the usual breeding season in South- 

 eastern Australia, the Islands of Bass Strait, and Tasmania. At I'oint Cloates, in Nortli-western 

 Australia Mr. Tom Carter found a nest with eggs on the 12th September. 



Sub-family LOBIVANELLIN^. 

 Erythrogonys cinctus. 



KED-KNKKl) Dn'lTKEIOL. 



Erijllirogumjs cinc/us, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1837, p. 155 ; iiL, Uils. Au.str., fol. Vol. VI., pi. "21 

 (1848): id., Handhk. Bds. Austr., Vol. IP, p. I'W (I8G5); Kharpe, Cat. P.ds. Brit. Mus., 

 Vol. XXIV., p. 125 (189G) : Id., Hand-1. Bds., Vol. I., p. 148 (18'.n»). 



Adult mams. — General colo>i,r above bron-y-brown ; tipper >viii(/-corerts and long innermost 

 secoiiilnries like the hack ; llie greater coverts externally edged ivith, icliite aronnd t/ieir tips; quills 

 blackish-brown, lite iitn.er primaries and outer srcomlarirs targehj tipped /nth n-h/ile ; lo/ver back, 

 sides of the rump and upper tail-coverts trhile, ce.ntre of riunp and upper fail-cooerls bronzy-broivn ; 

 central tail-feathers bronzy-broivu, the lateral feathers tvliite, in some specimeus mingled tvith pale 

 bronzy-brown, on the ajiical jiortion of tlie outer web ; cheeks, chin, throat and sides of neck white; 

 forehead, sides of face, crown of the head, hind-neck, mantle and entire fore-neck and chest black; 

 remainder of under surf ace ivliite, a broad patch on each side of the lower breast bright chestnut; 

 under lail-coiierts white, some of the shorter ones centred on their apical portion tvith brown, and 



