A.J. 
Data Campbell's No. of 
oO. 
647 
648 
649 
650 
No, ip 
Book. 
602 
617 
617 
615 
Eggs. 
THE JACKSONIAN OOLOGICAL COLLECTION. 
when I ran suddenly to the elevated flat, and saw the bird running away from the spot at which I had 
first disturbed her. On going over I made a most exhaustive survey of the whole place, but even then 
I could see no eggs, so I again retreated, and ran up after another ten minutes, and saw the bird running 
away from apparently the same place; but on going over I could see no sign of a nest or eggs. I was 
determined to find them, so I placed a stick in the ground at this spot with a piece of white paper 
attached to the top of it, and then walked up to the end of the paddock, a distance of about 200 yards, 
where I stood behind a large gate post, from which I watched the bird’s movements. She slowly and 
cautiously came back, but in rather a suspicious and round-about way, all the time crying “ kar-kar-kar- 
kar,” as she proceeded ; ultimately, however, she sat down quite near the stick, and there remained 
for 20 minutes. I was now satisfied, and of course felt sure a nest must be there, so I left my covert, 
and walked down and found the four eggs, placed in a very slight depression in the ground, only three 
feet from where I had put in the stick. Specimen A. measures in inches = 1°77 x 1°23. 
MASKED PLOVER, 
Lobivanellus miles, Boddaert. 
Set of 4 eggs, which are very heavily blotched all over, and are the only clutch of four of these 
rare specimens, as far as I have been able to ascertain, that have yet been taken. They were found 
near the junction of the Nicholson and Albert Rivers, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, district of North 
Queensland, by E. Drew, on the 16th of January, 1898. Specimens A. and B. are more heavily 
marked than C. and D. The eggs are the same size as those of the Black-breasted Plover, and 
specimen A. measures = 1°72 x 1°27; but in the ground colour and general markings they are rather 
different to the eggs of the two preceding species. 
RED-NECKED AVOCBET, 
Rucurvirostra nove hollandia, Vieillot. 
Set of 4 rare eggs, taken at Shamrock, near Cunnamulla, Queensland, by S. Robinson, on the 
7th of February, 1898. Specimen A. measures = 1:96 x 1°37. I saw these birds on the swamps in 
the Clarence River district of N.S.W. on three occasions, but never knew them to breed there. The 
late James F. Wilcox, the well known naturalist of the Clarence River, once had some of these beautiful 
birds alive in his grounds at “ Dallinga,” South Grafton, and the gardener one day took it into his head 
to do a little operating ; and with a sharp scissors cut off their long thin “curved up” bills. When 
questioned by his master as to his reason for perpetrating such an act, he calmly remarked “ that he 
had done it in order that the bills might grow straight.” 
Pair of eggs, which are of a darker stone ground than the above set, and were taken in the interior 
of New South Wales on the 27th of January, 1889. Specimen A. measures = 1°98 x 1°41. The 
Avocet has very long thin red legs, like stilts, and it’s bill is so very much upturned that it resembles 
exactly a bootmaker’s awl. The eggs are very similar to those of the Banded and White-headed Stilt, 
only they are larger. 
WHITE-HEADED STILT, 
Himantopus leucocephalus, Gould. 
(Variety A).—Set of 4 handsome specimens, taken on Duck Swamp, South Grafton, Clarence 
River, New South Wales, on the 2nd of September, 1898, by L. Vesper, Jno. McEnerny, Frank and 
Sid. W. Jackson. See A. J. Campbell’s book on ‘ Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds,” page 802, for 
my notes and photographs on the above find. ‘Three nests are shown in the accompanying photograph 
(page 149), and the above set was taken from one which is to be seen in the middle. This set of eggs 
is decidedly like those of the Red-necked Avocet, only of course they are smaller. The ground colour 
is of a beautiful yellowish stone, with a faint olive tinge, and the eggs are beautifully blotched all over 
with dark and almost black markings. It is the best set of all those we found. The first eggs of this 
bird found in New South Wales were taken by an aboriginal in the employ of the late J. MacGillivray, 
during September of 1866, and strange to say from the same swamp as the series of specimens now 
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