AUSTRALIAN LIMICOL^. 979 



side as far up the coast as Rockinghain Bay, Ijeyoud which, 

 in that direction, Dr. Ramsay does not record it in his " List." 

 In the central portion of the Continent it was obtained 

 recently by Dr. Zietz on the overland trij) with Lord Kintore. 

 Thron<i,hout the territory which it inha])its it appears to be a 

 resident species, Imt it is possilile that its numbers in Tasmania 

 may be increased by an inHiix of l)irds in the s])ring from the 

 mainland, as during" some years it is noticed to be more 

 ])lentiful here than at other times. It is not uncommon in 

 the midland districts of Tasmania, being usually noticed 

 about the Salt I'ans near Tunljrulge, as also on suitable tracts 

 of ])lain country in the south and north of the Island, ])ut it 

 is nowhere so abundant as the Black-lireasted Plover. 



Fam. SCdicnemidaeo 



40. ESACUS MAGNIROSTRIS. 



(Large-billed Stone Plovov). 



CEflicnenms magnirosfns^ (Geoftrey St. Ililaire), Yiei]], X. Diet., 



xxviii., p. 231, (1818). 

 Ksaciis maqniroatrh, (Geott'.), Gould, flandb. B. of Austr., ii., p. 



218, (1865) ; Ramsay, List Aiistr. B., p. 19, (1888). 



If the Malayan Stone Plover be identical with the Austra- 

 lian, the j^resent species has a range extending from the 

 Andaman Islands to Rockingham Bay on the east coast of 

 the Continent. Lord Walden in his note on this Plover 

 (Trans. Z. S., 1872, " Birds of Celebes ") refers to Temminck's 

 observation on the example figured by himself as being inter- 

 mediate between the Indian and Papuan forms, and sui'mises 

 that the Malayan and Australian species may be distinct. 

 Sufficient data for their separation, however, is not forthcoming, 

 and I accordingly treat of them here as being identical. In 

 Australia Dr. Ramsay notes this plover as being found from 

 Port Darwin along the north coast, and as far south as 

 Rockingham Bay, while Dr. Zietz recently obtained it in 

 the Northern Territory. Fi'om Australia northwards it 

 extends as a resident species through New Guinea to Celebes, 

 Borneo, Palawan, the Philippines, Java, Sumatra, and 

 thence onward to the Andamans and the Coco's Islands, 

 where Mi-. Hume found it breeding late in the summer 

 (March) of 1 874. 



Returning to tlite Polynesian region. Dr. Finsch has 

 obtained in New Britain, and Layard records it from New 

 Caledonia and the Huon Islands, situated between the 



