LONG-BILLED STONE-PLOVER. 117 



Nestling in partial down. Crown of head, hind-neck, back, scapulars, and tail 

 blue-grey with dark centres to the feathers ; outer scapulars tinged with rufous ; 

 the grey down still adhering to the feathers on the sides of the crown, sides of 

 neck, rump, and tail ; fore-head, eyebrow, and throat white ; lores and ear-coverts 

 blackish ; quills black with white downy tips ; lower throat and fore-neck dark buff 

 with broad black shaft-lines which extend on to the sides of the body ; abdomen, 

 lower flanks, and thighs buffy-white ; under tail -coverts sandy -buff. 



Young. Head and hind-neck grey, with dark central streaks to the feathers, 

 the down still adhering to the feathers of the latter ; the feathers of the back, 

 scapulars, and lesser wing-coverts broadly margined with rufous, becoming brighter 

 and inclining to chestnut on the wings ; median coverts for the most part white with 

 dark shaft-lines ; tail grey barred and mottled with brown ; cheeks and ear-coverts 

 buff with dark shaft-streaks ; abdomen and thighs white, the latter tinged with 

 buff ; under tail -co verts cinnamon-buff. 



Nest. A depression. 



Eggs. Clutch, two ; ground-colour stone, blotched with dark brown, more 

 especially on the larger end ; axis 53 mm., diameter 39. 



Breeding-season. September and October. August to January. 



Distribution and forms. Confined to Australia and Tasmania. Four subspecies 

 are recognisable : B. m. magnirostris (Latham), from New South Wales, Victoria, 

 South Australia and South Queensland ; B. m. ramsayi Mathews, from North 

 Queensland, Gulf of Carpentaria, etc., with longer legs (146 mm.) though similar 

 length of wing ; B. m. rufescens Mathews, from North-west Australia and Northern 

 Territory, in their generally smaller size (tarsus 125 mm.) and more rufescent upper 

 coloration ; and B. m. broomei Mathews, from South-west Australia, in their still 

 smaller size, especially their shorter legs, tarsus 115 mm., average leg measurement 

 of typical form 135 mm. 



Genus ORTHORHAMPHUS. 



Orthorhamphus Salvador*, Ann. Mus. Civ. Geneva, Vol. V., p. 312, 1874. Type (by monotypy) : 

 (Edicnemus magnirostris Vieillot. 



Burhinine birds with very long stout bills, short wings, short tail, and stout 

 long legs. The bill is massive, longer than the head, with tip slightly decurved ; 

 the nasal depression is about half the length of the culmen with the long linear 

 nostrils anteriorly placed ; the length of the culmen almost approaches that of the 

 metatarsus. 



The wing is short with the first three primaries longest and subequal. The 

 tail is rounded and short, being less than half the length of the wing. The legs are 

 long and stout ; the metatarsus is reticulate throughout and is only about one-third 

 the length of the wing. No hind-toe. 



8x. Orthorhamphus magnirostris. LONG-BILLED STONE-PLOVER. 



[(Edicnemus magnirostris Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., Vol. XXIII., p. 231, Sept. 5th, 

 1818, ex Geoffrey St. Hilaire MS. No locality = Binongka, Celebes, in error = Timor, 

 collected by Peron. Extra-limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VI., pi. 6 (pt. XXL), Dec. 1st, 1845. Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 4, pi. 174, Dec. 31st, 

 1913. 



Esacus magnirostris negUctus Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 226, Jan. 31st, 1912 : 



Lewes Island, mid-West Australia. 



Esacus magnirostris melvillensis Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., pt. 4, p. 85, Sept. 18th, 



1912 : Melville Island, Northern Territory. 



Esacus magnirostris queenslandicus Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., pt. 1, p. 6, Aug. 



2nd, 1913 : Mackay, Queensland. 



DISTRIBUTION. North-west Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland. 



