294 



HIMANTOPODIN/E. 



headed Stilt. The late Mr. K. H. Bennett, who k-new Clndoyhynchiis pcctoralis well, having 

 frequently seen it on the Gippsland Lakes, Victoria, in former days, and whose station, 

 Yandembah, is next hut one to Booligal, informed me that during more than thirty years collecting 

 in different parts of the Lachlan River District and surrounding country, he liad rarely met with 

 the Banded Stilt, and never knew of an instance of its breeding. The exatnples of this species 

 in the Reference Collection of the Australian Museum, are from King George Sound, Western 

 Australia, the Gippsland Lakes, \'ictoria, and the Botany Swamps, near Sydney, New South 

 Wales. 



Recurvirostra novae-hollandiae. 



KED-NECKED AVOCET. 



Rficnrviroglra iiovirhullaiulue, Vieill., Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., Tom. III., p. 103 (1816) ; Sliarpe, 

 Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXIV., p. 333 (1896); id., Hand-1. Bds., Vol. I., p. 1.57 (1899). 



Recurvirostra rubricollis, Could, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VL, pi. 27 (1848) ; it/., Handbk. Bds. Austr., 

 Vol. IT, p. 249 (186.0). 



Adult male.— (Jeneral colour above white ; inner scapulars, ceulral lesser and median upper 

 iriuff-coverts and long ianermost secondaries browiiisJi -black ; remainder of the upper icing-coverts 

 u'hite ; primaries broirnisJi-blaclx, the inner n'ebs of the innermost and the outer secondaries ivhile ; 

 upper lail-coverts and tail-feathers ichite ; head, sides of neck, upper portion of tlte hind-aeck chestnut; 

 remainder of tlio U7ider surface and the uttder tail-coverts ivhite ; bill brotvnish-black : legs and feet 

 light slaty-blue ; iris red. Totallength in tlie flesh 19'5 inches, wing 9, tail o'S, bill 3'6, tarsus 3-J^. 



Adult female. — Similar in plumage to tlie male. 



Distribution. — North-western .Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South 

 Australia, Central Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania. 



IrJTV XCEPT the extreme northern parts, the Red-necked Avocet is generally distributed in 

 ^-X most suitable situations over the remainder of the Australian Continent; it likewise 

 occurs, but in limited numbers, in Tasmania. Although frequenting brackish lagoons and 



marshes near the coast, it is more 

 abundantly distributed on the inland 

 swamps and marshes of the States, 

 and whither it usually resorts for 

 the purpose of breeding. This 

 species was at one time fairly 

 numerous near Melbourne, although 

 not so common as lUinaniopiis leiico- 

 ciflialus, but since the drainage and 

 reclamation of the swampy areas, 

 principally at West Melbourne, the 

 mouth of the Yarra River, and 

 between .Albert Park and St. Hilda, 

 it may now be sought for in vain 

 near that tnetropolis. Locally it 



RED-NECKED AVOCET. ^ ■' 



was known by bird-nesting boys 

 and youthful sportsmen as the " Trumpeter," from its peculiar squeaky toy-trumpet-like notes, 



