118 A MANUAL OP THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Adult male. Head, neck all round, back, and scapulars brown, with dark shaft- 

 lines to the feathers of the head and hind -neck ; lesser upper wing-coverts dark 

 brown ; median coverts banded with white, which shows a narrow wing-bar, the 

 small coverts round the bend of the wing and greater coverts pale grey, outside edge 

 of wing white ; bastard -wing and primary -co verts dark brown ; primary -quills 

 also dark brown with white on the inner webs, the outer primary white on the outer 

 web towards the tip, the second one mottled only with white, the third, fourth, and 

 fifth have no white on the outer web, the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth entirely 

 white except a small patch of brown on the outer web of the sixth near the tip ; 

 secondaries white, obliquely banded with brown, the long innermost secondaries 

 like the back ; tail-feathers brown banded with white, the white band preceded by 

 a dark narrow cross line ; lores, sides of crown, and a line under the eye black like 

 the sides of the nape and lower cheeks ; a white line above and below the eye which 

 unites behind the latter and extends backward on to the sides of the nape ; chin 

 and throat white ; breast grey, becoming paler and inclining to buffy-white on the 

 abdomen ; thighs and under tail-coverts buff ; axillaries and under wing-coverts 

 white : bill black, operculum at base of bill, eyelid and naked skin yellow ; feet 

 yellowish -grey. Total length 530 mm. ; culmen 76, wing 280, tail 120, tarsus 95. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male but smaller ; culmen 72, tarsus 90. 



Nestling. Undescribed . 



Nest. None made. 



Eggs. Clutch, one ; ground-colour cream-white, streaked and marked all over 

 with dark olive-brown, some of the markings being large and bold without assuming 

 any regular form, and others mere blotches about an eighth of an inch in diameter, 

 while many of the streaks were as fine as hair, and were of a crooked or zigzag form ; 

 axis 61-66 mm., diameter 44-46. 



Breeding-season. October to February. 



Distribution and forms. Through the Moluccas, New Guinea and the coasts of 

 tropical Australia. The extra-limital specimens are all lighter than Australian ones 

 and each may represent more than one race. Thus Mathews has separated O. m. 

 melvillensis from Melville Island, as being darker above with the lesser wing-coverts 

 almost black, and O. m. queenslandicus from Mackay, Queensland, also in being 

 lighter above than the last named, though darker than the typical form. Oberholser 

 has recently renamed the extra-limital form O. m. scommophorus, on the grounds 

 that Vieillot's name was given to an Australian specimen, but the locality label was 

 simply one of the many errors apparent in the relabelling of Peron's specimens. 



SUPERFAMILY SCOLOPACOIDEA. 



This superfamily is composed of four families, Painted Snipe, Waders (restricted), 

 Phalaropes, and Avocets and Stilts. The relationship of the first named is still 

 somewhat obscure, while the distribution is peculiar, species being found in southern 

 South America, South Africa, Southern Asia and Australia . The Waders, as restricted , 

 are all peculiar in that they breed in the Arctic and North Temperate zones and 

 migrate southwards into the South Temperate and Antarctic zones as soon as their 

 breeding-season, which is very short, is over. They remain in the North Temperate 

 zones, outside their breeding localities, during the winter as well as travel farthest 

 south, while non-breeding birds will remain during the breeding-season in their 

 southern quarters. The Phalaropes are a small group of specialised swimming 

 waders, three in number, each of them having lobed toes but otherwise rather distinct, 

 and breeding in the extreme north, migrate southwards as the preceding, but some- 

 times erratic extensions of their migrations occur. None have as yet occurred in 

 Australia, but one species not uncommonly occurs as near as the Moluccas, while a 

 specimen of another species has been recorded from New Zealand. In contradis- 



