LOlilVANELLUS. 



2G9 



Dr. Lonsdale Holden, while resident at Bellerive, near Hobart, Tasmania, wrote :—" Twice 

 during September, 1889, I saw a single example of the Spur-winged VXovev (Lobivamllus lohatus) 

 on the shores of the lagoon at Kangaroo Point, rise wildly when approached, and uttering 

 shrieking cries. On the 15th .April, 1903, I examined a specimen shot the previous day on the 

 Dunrobin Estate, Upper Derwent River. This species is a rare bird around Hobart." 



The nest is either near the edge of a swamp, or on a small hillock surrounded with water, 

 or on a rise on the grassy plains or paddoci<s some distance from water. It is usually a 

 shallow depression scratched in the ground, lined with dried grass stalks, and is sometimes 

 encircled with small stones. Upon the approach of an intruder near the nesting-place, the old 

 birds use every artifice and allurement to draw one away from their eggs or young, tumbling 

 over and over in a seemingly helpless manner, and uttering at the same time loud notes of 

 distress, until one is enticed some distance, when the hitherto apparently helpless bird either 

 runs or flies quickly away. 



The accompanying figure is reproduced from a photograph taken by Dr. W. Macgillivray, 



on the bank of Silistria Lake, 

 north-east of Broken Hill, in 

 South-western New South 

 Wales. 



The eggs, which are usually 

 laid with the pointed end in- 

 wards, are mostly four in 

 number for a sitting, pyriform 

 or oval, much pointed at the 

 smaller end, the shell being 

 close-grained, some being dull 

 others more or less lustrous. 

 In ground colour they vary 

 from light yellowish-olive to 

 a brownish-olive and bright 

 olive-green, over which is dis- 

 tributed numerous irregular- 

 shaped freckles, spots and 

 blotches of brownish-black, with which are usually intermingled a few nearly obsolete spots 

 and blotches of dull inky-grey. On some specimens the markings are large, on others 

 small, and sometimes confluent in places, forming large patches or smears on the shell. 

 A set of four in the Australian INIuseum Collection, taken by Mr. James Ramsay at Nanama, 

 New South Wales, measures: — Length (A) 1-93 x 1-44 inches; (B) 1-99 x 1-4 inches; 



(C) 1-93 X 1-45 inches; (D) i-ga x 1-42 inches. A set of four taken by Mr. George 

 Savidge, on the ist September, iS9'i, at Smith's Creek, Upper Clarence River, New South 

 Wales, measure: — Length (A) 1-97 x 1-41 inches; (B) 2 x 1-47 inches; (C) 2-oi x 1-45 

 inches ; (D) 2-02 x 1-4 inches. A set of four, taken by Mr. Thos. P. Austin on the 26th August, 

 1909, on Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, measures: — Length (A) 1-95 x 1-37 

 inches; (B) i-97 x 1-37 inches; (C) i-8S x 1-42 inches; (D) i-g x 1-4 inches. A set of four 

 taken on the i8th August, 1908, by Mr. H. G. Barnard, at Bimbi, Duaringa, Queensland, 

 measures: — Length (A) 1-91 x 1-35 inches; (B) 1-82 x i'35 inches; (C) i-Sg x 1-35 inches; 



(D) 1-95 x 1-32 inches. 



While at Cobborah Station a young bird was run down and caught on the 12th October, 

 1909. General colour above dull grey, the tips of the feathers pale brown with a submarginal 

 black cross-bar ; quills black ; lesser and median upper wing-coverts like the back, the greater 



68 



NESTING-PLAOK AND EfiGS OF SPUR-WINGRD PLOVER. 



