RECURVIHO.STRA, 295 



which it uttered usually during flight. In habits it closely resembles the preceding species, 

 procuring its food, which consists of minute aquatic insects and small Crustacea, with its long 

 upcurved bill, on the muddy margins of shallow waters. 



In New South Wales, especially during very wet seasons, it is more freely distributed 

 throuKhout the south-western portions of the State, the late Mr. K. H. Bennett frequently 

 procuring nests and eg.t4S and young at Ivanhoe, Mossgiel, and on Yandembah Station, near the 

 Lachlan River. In the Australian Museum Collection are also skins from Coonamble, and 

 from the coastal districts of Lake George and Cooma, the latter place being at an altitude of two 

 thousand six hundred and sixty feet. It is extremely rare in the neighbourhood of Sydney ; 

 small Hocks used to visit the swamps at Botany, but I have not heard of any being obtained 

 or observed since 1887. 



In igoi Dr. A. Chenery found it breeding on Arcoona Station, one hundred and forty miles 

 north-west of Port Augusta, and in Central Australia Mr. G. A. Heartland saw a skin 

 obtained in the vicinity of Alice Springs Telegraph Station. Subsequently in 1897 Mr. 

 Heartland, while a member of the Calvert Exploring Expedition, obtained this species in the 

 swamps near the F"itzroy River, North-western .\ustralia. Mr. E. J. Cairn and the late Mr. 

 T. H. Bowyer-Bower procured specimens near Derby, and further south Mr. Tom Carter found 

 it breeding near Point Cloates. 



Mr. Robt. Grant has handed me the following note:— "In some seasons Red-necked 

 Avocets may be found over the greater portion of the district between Byrock and Bourke, in 

 Western New South Wales. These birds chiefly frequent the margins of billabongs and lagoons, 

 especially those grown over with a profusion of Polygoniiin or other bushes." 



The late Mr. H. H. Bennett, while resident at Mossgiel, South-western New South Wales, 

 in 1886, wrote as follows: — " In good seasons, during periods of flood, Rtcurvii'ostm rnhyicoUis is 

 very numerous, and is usually met with in small flocks of twenty to thirty in number, and 

 frequently in company with Hiiiiantopns leucocephalus. It gives decided preference to open shallow 

 sheets of water, and usually breeds during the month of October, depositing its eggs, three or 

 four in number, on the bare ground amongst the herbage, close to the water's edge, but sufficiently 

 elevated to be out of reach of the water. The lower part of an embankment, or of a tank, when 

 covered with herbage, is a favourite site ; a low ring of debris, left by the receding water, is 

 placed around the eggs for the purpose of keeping them in position." 



Writing from Yandembah Station, near Booligal, in 1889, Mr. Bennett remarked : — "On 

 the 8th August I found two nests of Rccurviroitva ruhricoUis, one containing two young ones just 

 hatched and two eggs with the bills of the young ones projecting through the shells. The other 

 nest contained four eggs in an advanced stage of incubation. These nests were simply hollows 

 in the moist soil, at the edge of a sheet of water, the small ends of the eggs being directed 

 inwards. On the following day I found two more nests, one with three eggs on the point of 

 hatching, the bills of the young ones protruding through the shells; the other contained four 

 perfectly fresh eggs. In both instances the slight hollows in the damp soil had a layer of 

 short twigs beneath the eggs. These hollows are just deep enough to allow the eggs to be 

 on the level with the surrounding bare mud, thus affording considerable protection, as they 

 resemble the colour of the latter so closely that they are not easily detected. Owing to the 

 unusually wet season this species, in common with many others, has been breeding remarkably 

 early." 



From Broken Hill, South-western New South Wales, Dr. W. Macgillivray sent the 

 following notes: — " RcLiiyvifostra nova-lwllandia: is common on every considerable sheet of water 

 in the district, where their barking call is frequently heard both by day and night. The nests 



