270 LO!UVANKI,LI\,E. 



coverts darlc grey with whitish margins around the tip; the upper tail-coverts dull grey, and 

 having the remains of pale brown filamentous down barred with black ; tail-feathers black, their 

 bases white and tips brownish-white, the central pair terminating in lilamentous black down; 

 crown of the head black, all the feathers tipped with pale brown like the back ; all the under 

 surface as in the adult, the feathers on the flanks and thighs long and downy ; l)ill dull yellow, 

 whitish on apical half of lower mandible, culmen brown ; wattles and skin around the eye pale 

 yellow ; iris pale greenish-yellow; spurs on wings whitish. Total length in the flesh 12 inches, 

 wing 7-2, outer primaries 6-2. 



Immature males resemble the adults, but have the wattles on the fore-part of the head and 

 the spur on the wing smaller, the black feathers on the crown of the head are tipped with dull 

 buff, those above the eyes being broadly edged also with the same colour ; the line down and 

 across the hind-neck and patches on the fore-neck are dull brownish-black, and the feathers of 

 the back, upper wing-coverts and innermost lengthened secondaries are barred on the apical 

 portion with dull black and bufl. Wing nearly the same as some adults, 9^2 inches. 



July and the four following months constitute the usual breeding season, nests with eggs, 

 in New South Wales, being more frequently found in August. It is, however, intfuenced by the 

 rainfall. I have seen eggs taken in the middle of June, and young in down captured early in 

 August. 



Lobivanellus personatus. 



MASKED PLOVER. 



Lolih'andlus pernonntns, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VI., pi. 10 (IS IS) ; iil., Haiidljk, Bds. Austr., 

 Vol. II., p. -220 (1865). 



Zoiim?tfi//((s )/ii7'>-, Siiarpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXIV., p. 140 (IS'.IG) ; id., Hand-l. Bds., 

 Vol. I., p. 149 (1899). 



Adult MALK. — Like Ihe. adaU male <)/' Lohivanellus LonATUs, l>nt h<n-iii(j imli/ Iju- cro/rti of the 

 head aitd nape hhtck, the hind-neck irliile^ and de.stitiite of the b/aek haiiil acrass the /mver porliaii of the 

 hind-neck and black patch on the sides of the chest, the.ie parts heiiKj pa!e hroini like the back ; the yellow 

 tvattles on the fore- part of the liead are more triangnlar in form, one corner beiny roiin.iied off on the 

 centre of the fore/iead, another e.iiejidini/ in a lonij narrow point belong tlie sides of the throat, the other 

 terminaliny in. a short point behind the eye. Total lenyth 12%'> inches, iriny S-S, tail J, bill l'~), 

 tarsus 3. 



Adult fkmalk. — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Dislribntion. — North-western Australia, Northern Territory, North Queensland. 

 /~|^HE Masked Plover is an inhabitant of the northern portions of the Australian continent. 

 J- Mr. E. J. Cairn and the late Mr. T. M. Bowyer-Bower procured specimens near Derby, 

 and while in camp near the junction of the Fitzroy and Margaret Ivivers, Mr. G. A. Keartland, 

 of the Calvert Exploring Expedition, had two eggs given him by Mr. James Livingstone, 

 which he had taken on the 8th March, 1897, near the Fitzroy River, North-western Australia. 

 It is common in the neighbourhood of Port Darwin and Port Essington, in the Northern 

 Territory, and on the Cape York Peninsula, the Gulf of Carpentaria and Burke District in North 

 Queensland; while in the latter district Dr. W. Macgillivray often observed it in the vicinity 

 of Cloncurry, where he found it breeding. 



Dr. W. Macgillivray wrote as follows on the birds of the Cloncurry District, Northern 

 Queensland : — " Lohivanclhis miles takes the place of our L. lobatiis, and its habits are identical in 

 every respect. It is very plentiful, often as many as fifty being seen in a flock. These birds 



