424 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 



on one example, while on the other the dull slate has prominence. 

 There is a perceptible difference in specimens from Western 

 Australia, which are warmer in general tone of color, shorter in 

 length, and decidedly rounder in shape. Dimensions in centimetres 

 of examples from Eastern and Western Australia : — 



Obserimtions — The southern stone-curlew is a well-known bird, 

 being common to the whole of Australia. Whether in the tropical 

 forests of Queensland or the vast woods of Gippsland or the drier 

 tracts of the interior provinces and of Western Australia, every 

 dweller of the bush is familiar with the weird melancholy calls of 

 the bird at night. Mr. Henry Seebohm, in his gi'eat work, " The 

 Geographical Distribution of the family Charadriida>, or the 

 ^'lovers, Sandpipers, Snipes, and their Allies," has left very few 

 stones unturned, but in renaming our bird as the Eastern Australian 

 stone-curlew, and in quoting his able friend Mr. J. E. Harting 

 for reference for this description of the egg, he overlooked the fact 

 that Mr. Harting' s specimen was taken in Western Australia. 



It has been remarked that the eggs of stone-curlews frequenting 

 the plains north or west of the Dividing Ranges are smaller in size 

 and have the markings more blurred or less defined than those on 

 the coastal side. However, it will be observed by the dimensions 

 given above that the eggs from Western Australia are decidedly 

 smaller. When on my visit I heard there were two varieties of 

 stone-curlews in the western territory — the larger being a dark 

 bird and the smaller light colored. But what we hear is not 

 evidence and the thing lacks confirmation. Yet there may be 

 something to account for the smaller- sized eggs from the western 

 l^arts, especially when we remember that Gould hinted at a second 

 race of these birds in Australia. 



During my brief sojourn in the Cardwell district. Northern 

 Queensland, August, 1885, I was surprised to see large flocks, 

 perhaps fifty or sixty birds, of stone-curlews camping in the open 

 forest glades. Probably it is a habit, especially amongst younger 

 birds, to congregate in winter before dispersing southward or else- 

 where to breed. 



Breeding months include August to December and probably 

 January. Early in September I recollect picking up, near Lake 

 Tragowel, Victoria, a pair of eggs, just chipped ; by night the 

 chickens Avere hatched, able to stand up and feed themselves. 



