174 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



with semicircular dark bars to the feathers which gives a scalloped appearance to 

 the back, the feathers on the head have dark central spots ; lesser, upper and some 

 of the inner median wing-coverts blackish, edged with rufous and spotted with 

 black, others are white on the inner web ; greater series for the most part white with 

 a small amount of earth-brown near the base ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts and 

 quills black, secondaries edged with white at the tips, some of the inner ones almost 

 entirely white ; lower back and upper tail-coverts have the downy texture of the 

 nestling, which is fawn colour dotted with black ; tail-feathers bronzy-brown tipped 

 with rufous ; a broad band from behind the eye encircling the hind-neck, black, a 

 crescentic patch of white on the nape ; entire under-surface white, except a few dark 

 feathers on the chest, which is the first indication of the black band ; the small 

 coverts on the outer edge of the under-wing black, margined with white. Bill, tip 

 black, base orange ; eye black, eyelids orange ; feet pink. (February.) 



Nestling in down. Crown of head and entire back fawn colour, dotted with 

 black ; a semicircular black line across the fore-part of the head from eye to eye, 

 a short line of black on the hinder crown, followed by a semicircular band of white, 

 a line of black commencing in front of the eye, enclosing the latter, continued and 

 widened out round the hind -neck where it forms a collar ; another black band starting 

 on the inner portion of the wing, continued along the sides of the back, dividing the 

 fawn colour and enclosing the tail ; outer portions of the wings and entire under- 

 surface white. (January.) 



Nest. A depression in the earth. 



Eggs. Clutch, three ; ground-colour stone, covered with strange markings of 

 lavender and brown, patches of the ground-colour frequently appearing ; axis 

 29-30 mm., diameter 21-21.5. 



Breeding-season. April, May, September to December. 



Distribution and forms. Confined to Australia, but one bird said to have been 

 killed at Madras, India. Two subspecies are recognisable, as : Elseyornis melanops 

 melanops (Vieillot) from Eastern Australia generally, and Elseyornis melanops ru&satus 

 (Jerdon) from Western Australia, a smaller and paler race with less black on the 

 second outer tail-feather. 



FAMILY VANELLID^E. 



This family is better circumscribed than any other Charadriine group, yet has 

 never been accepted through lack of examination. Mathews gave details and these 

 are confirmed by more complete criticism of all the series. Through the confusion 

 of the members of this family with those of the preceding no detailed account of 

 their osteological and anatomical peculiarities is on record. Yet that such exist 

 is gleaned from the item " Vandlus cristatus has been recorded with two separate 

 biceps slips." The leg muscle formula is AXY-f and the intrinsic muscles of the 

 syrinx are very large. 



Of the three genera occurring in Australia, two have hind-toes, the other not ; 

 two have facial wattles, one with a very large wing spur, the third neither wattles 

 nor spur. 



* Genus LOBIBYX. 



Lobibyx Heine und Reichenow, Nomencl. Mus. Hein., p. 334, (pref. Sept.) 1890. Type (by 

 original designation) : Tringa lobata Latham = Vanellus novcehollandice Stephens. 

 Lobivanellus Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. Vogel, p. xvm., 1852 (? 1853). Type (by original 

 designation) : V. novcehollandice Stephens. 

 Not of Strickland, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), p. 32, 1841, Oct. 



Large Lapwings with facial pendant wattles, long spurs at the bend of the wing, 

 long bills, long wings and long legs with small feet. 



