426 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 



Mr. Hume states the eggs are handsome, and are oval in sliape, 

 a good deal compressed towards one end. The shell is tolerably 

 fine and smooth, but without gloss. The ground color is 

 creamy-stone, boldly blotched, streaked, and spotted with blackish- 

 brown, paling in some places to a yellowish or raw sienna-brown. 

 Besides these primary markings, a few small, pale, inky-purple, 

 subsm-face-looking spots and clouds are thinly scattered everywhere 

 about the egg. The blackish-brown markings are chiefly confined 

 to the larger end; dimensions, 2-6in. x l-75in. 



Observations — Except for the more elaborate details of Mr. 

 Hume, it will be seen that the two descriptions, with dimensions 

 above given, almost agree. Gould was favored with a specimen of 

 this fine bird's egg from Commander J. M. R. Ince, who obtained 

 it in the Port Darwin district. 



H^MATOPUS LONGIEOSTRIS. 

 "White-hreasted Oyster-catcher. 

 Figure — Gould : Birds of Australia, fob, vol. vi., pi. 7. 

 Ramsay^ s Tab. List — Hcematopus lunyirostris, Yieill. 

 Previous Descriptions of Eyys— Gould : Birds of Australia 

 (1848); also Hdbk., vol. it., p. 216 (1865). Potts: Trans. New 

 Zealand Inst., vol. ii., p. 69 (1870). Buller : Birds of New 

 Zealand (187.S) ; also vol. ii., p. 17 (1888). North: Cat. Nest 

 and Eggs Australian Birds, p. 299 (1889). 



Geographical Distribution — Coast of whole of Australia and 

 Tasmania and south portion of New Guinea. 



I^^est — .Merely a slight circular depression in the sand or in dry 

 river beds near the sea shore. 



■Eggs — Clutch, 2, but in rare cases 3 ; inclined to oval in shape ; 

 texture of shell, strong ; ground color, pale stony-grey, moderately 

 marked with well-defined roundish blotches of urnber ; some of 

 the blotches are confluent, others have a smudged appearance; 

 there are also a few obsolete bluish-grey mai'kings under the surface 

 of the shell. Dimensions in centimetres of clutches, namely: — 



Clutch A 5-77 X 4-09 (sharper pointed egg) 



5-73 X 4-15 



" B 615 X 4-0 



5-9 X 4-0 



" C 6-15 X 3-94 



6-22 X 40 

 A specimen from King Sound, North- West Australia, measures 

 5*75 X 4-0 cm. 



Observations — This handsome oyster-catcher in its garb of black 

 and white may be seen in almost any portion of the Australian and 

 Tasmanian coast, but is more abmidant on the southern coast and 

 especially on the islands in Bass Straits. During the expedition of 

 the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria to King Island, the latter 



