EGGS OF CHARADRlIDiE. 439 



are from the Mitchell district. Central Queensland, and were 

 found by a brother of our Tasmanian oologist, Mr. Geo. K. 

 Hinsby. The specimens I described in 1883, which w^ere from 

 Mr. H. H. Pick's collection, were taken in the Darling district. 

 New South Wales. However, Dr. Ramsay first described the species 

 the previous year from Mr. E. G. Vickery's collection, who pro- 

 cured them near Wilcannia in September, 1880. 



The breeding months, so far as we possess knowledge at present, 

 are September and October. 



KECURVIROSTRA NOV^-HOLLiNDI^. 

 Ked-necked Avocet. 



Figure —Gould: Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. 27. 



Ramsny' s Tab. List — Remirvirosfra ruhricollis, Temm. 



Previous Description of Eggs — Ramsay : P.L.S., N.S.W., vol. 

 VII. (1882). 



Geograph'cal Distribution — Australia in general and Tasmania. 



Nest— The bare ground, usually near water. 



Egi^s — Clutch, 4 ; pyriform in shape ; shell, soft in appearance 

 and lustreless ; ground color, a shade of deep-stone, or stone- 

 color, wdth an olive tinge, moderately marked over the surface 

 with blotches and large spots, mostly roundish in form, of dark- 

 brown ; also some duller markings of a slaty character appear 

 under the shell's surface. Dimensions in centimetres — (1) 

 5-0 X 3-41 ; (2) 4-95 x 3-41: (3) 4-9 x 3-44. 



The avocet's and the banded and white-headed stilts' eggs 

 are much alike, but the avocet's may be at once detected by their 

 large size. 



Observations — Along with stilts, avocets, during the season, 

 are frequently exposed for sale in the Melbourne market, but it 

 would appear their eggs are extremely rare in collections. 



Mr. K. H. Bennett informed Dr. Ramsay that the breeding months 

 embrace September and December, that is for New South Wales, 

 and that he took the specimens Avhich Dr. Ramsay described 

 from, among the herbage usually seen growing about the sheep 

 tanks in the interior. The avocet sometimes breeds in large 

 companies, as w^as the case when my examples of eggs were 

 gathered at Ulonga, about thirty miles from Hay, Riverina, 1879. 

 Mr. Bennett also foimd similar colonies breeding on the margin 

 of a lake in the interior during the season 1887. 



HIMANTOPUS PECTORALIS. 

 Banded Stilt. 

 Figure — Gould : Birds of AustraHa, fol., vol. ti., pi. 26. 

 Ramsay's Tab. List — Cladorhynchus pectoralis, Du Bus. 

 Previous Descriptions of Eggs — Ramsay: P.L.S., N.S.W., vol, 

 Yii. (1882) ; Campbell : Southern Science Record (1883). 



