532 Messrs. E. L. & E. L. C. Layard on the 



garnished the heads of all those we saw in Australia. It 

 may be that they are only assumed during the breeding- 

 seasoUj and that they breed only in the north of the island. 

 M. Marie includes a species, 



60. Egretta brevipes, Verr. & Des Murs, 



which he says he procured. We cannot, however, trace what 

 it is. It is not included in the ' Revue Zoologique.' 



61. EsAcus MAGNiRosTRis, Tcmm. 



We have received specimens of this large Plover from 

 several localities along the eastern side of the island, extend- 

 ing as far north as the Huon Islands, where it breeds, and 

 whence we have seen young birds. We have never observed 

 it personally in a wild state. It was obtained by M. 

 Marie. 



62. Charadrius fulS^us^ Gmel. 



This form of Golden Plover is found all along our sea- 

 coasts in limited numbers ; indeed all our sea-fowl are scarce, 

 and many miles of shore may be traversed without a single 

 Wader or Gull being seen. 



L. L. found a female followed by a couple of chicks a few 

 days old on the 20th of April 1877 ; and we simply noted it 

 in our bird-journal, not in the least suspecting there was any 

 thing uncommon in the occurrence, until our friend Capt. 

 Legge wrote to ask if there was not some error in the iden- 

 tification. Now, as L. L. has shot dozens of these birds in 

 Fiji and elsewhere, and was on the island for some consider- 

 able time, and close to the bird and her young ones on several 

 occasions, it is not likely he was mistaken in the species. 

 He was about to kill the bird, being close to it, when he saw 

 the young ones, and spared the parent for their sake. The 

 island is a low sandy patch at the end of a coral reef, with 

 some stunted trees and dense scrub in the centre, about two 

 miles from the shore at Ansevata, near Noumea. 



We have, moreover, since that time seen several birds in 

 full breeding-plumage about May. 



