280 I'KL'10I1YAT1N,«. 



on Fossil-bank Beach on the 23rd November, iSgi, and tlie 3rd February, 1S92, all being 

 fresh. 



The breeding season commences in September and continues until the middle of March, 

 but nests with eggs are more freijuently found in October and November. 



Sub-family PELTOHYATIN^. 

 Peltohyas australis. 



A USTRA LI A N D< )T'l'EREL. 



Eudromias australis, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1840, p. 174; id,, lids. Austr., fol. Vol. VI., pi. 15 

 (1S4.S) ; id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. IT., p. -227 (186.5). 



Pehohyas australis, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXIV., p. .3(17 (1896) ; id., Hand-1. Bds,, 

 Vol. I., p. 1.56 (189!)) ; North, Reo. Austr. Mus., Vol. VII., p. 186-7 (1909). 



Adult M.\LE. — Iji'nrml colour aborr' saitdyljujf' icitli dark liroirii ceiitrrs to tlf fcatliirs ; njijier 

 iviiuj-covi-rts like the back ; quills hlackisJi-hroivti, the outer webs of tlie imier primaries iie.ct the shaft, 

 except at the tips, iinrroivly edged ivith ciniiaiH(ni-b)i,fj' ; the secondaries more broadly margined with 

 ciiitiantou-liit^i' ; linrer back and rnnip sandy-bulf trtfli pale bro/vii cc'utres to the feathers ,' upper 

 tail-coverts pale brow/t, with indistinct fnlvons margins ; tail -feat Iters dark broicn, edged ivith saio/y- 

 bnff, and passing iitto dull white -near the edge of the lateral feathers, ichich hare broader margiits ; 

 criinut of tlie Iiead and nape rich santiy-biiff n'ith blackish, dn.lres to the Jeathers ; a broail band on 

 the sinciput black : lores, forehead, si<les of liead and throat pale snyaly-bu[l, irith a broail black 

 streak under the eye ; a collar encircling tlie hind-neck and meeting in a triangnl ar-sliaped patch 011 

 the fore. neck black, the feathers in front on either side of this collar ivhitish ; chest and breast saiidy- 

 bu(l\ until a broad rnfous-clieslnut streak down the centre of the breast, and terminating in a fork, 

 ?videui^ig out on the loHJer side of each jlank : abdomen, rent, thighs and nniler tail-corerts white; 

 " legs and feet yelloivish ; iris 6/«c^ " (Bennett). Total Innyth S ittch.es , wing 5-6, tail 2'5, bill t)-'7 

 tarsus 7 ",{.7. 



Adult KKM.\LK. — Similar in plniiiage to the male. Wing o'.'f inches. 



Disli'ibiitiun. — (Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria, South .Australia, Western .Australia, 

 North-western Australia. 



/■ |(^HE Australian Dotterel is essentially an inhabitant of the dry inland parts of the Australian 

 J- States, Gould originally describing it in the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society " 

 in 1840, from a specimen procured by Captain Charles Sturt, on the high-lands near the 

 Murray River, in South Australia. In that State also Dr. A. M. Morgan observed these 

 birds on the table-lands at Mount Gunson, and a set of three fresh eggs was taken for him in 

 August, 1900, near Gibson's Camp, about sixty miles north-west of Port Augusta, and in April, 

 1901, Dr. A. Chenery noted adults and young on Arcoona Station, about one hundred and forty 

 miles north-west of the same town. Much farther to the north, on a table-land of the West 

 Macdonnell Kange, in Central Australia, a set of eggs was found by Professor W. Baldwin 

 Spencer, one of the members of the Horn Scientific Expedition, in 1894, and Mr. C. E. Cowle 

 sent me a note of finding a set of eggs near the inargin of a small lake at Erldunda, on the 28th 

 March, 1900. Again i\Ir. G. A. Keartland met with it in North-western .Australia, while a 

 member of the Calvert Exploring Expedition in 1S97, on a lagoon near the Fitzroy River. Mr. 

 Tom Carter also procured a pair between the Minilya and Lyndon Rivers. From the opposite side 

 of the continent I received a pair of these eggs taken by Mr. W. Mackay, in 1878, on One Tree 



