SPUR-WINGED PLOVER. 175 



The bill is typically Vanelline ; in front, above and behind the eyes a fleshy 

 wattle which develops into a long pendant lappet in front. The wing is long with 

 the first three primaries about equal ; on the bend of the wing a long sharp spur 

 occurs which is smaller in the female. The legs are long and the feet small, the 

 metatarsus being more than twice the length of the middle toe ; the metatarsus is 

 transversely scaled in front, and in mature specimens apparently similarly covered 

 behind. 



121. Lobibyx miles. LESSER MASKED PLOVER. 



[Tringa miles Boddaert, Tabl. Planch. Enlum., p. 51, (pref. Dec. 1st) 1783 : Timor Laut. 

 Extra-limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VI., pi. 10 (pt. vm.), Sept. 1st, 1842. Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 1, pi. 130, April 



2nd, 1913. 



Lobivanellus personatus Gould, Birds Austr., pt. vm. (Vol. VI., pi. 10), Sept. 1st, 1842 : 



Coburg Peninsula, Northern Territory. 



Lobibyx miles harterti Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 215, Jan. 31st, 1912 : Inkerman, 



Queensland. 



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



Adult male. Crown of head black ; hind -neck, sides of face, ear-coverts, throat, 

 and entire under-surface pure white including the under wing-coverts, axillaries, and 

 under tail-coverts ; wings ash-grey ; middle of back, scapulars, and the innermost 

 secondaries olive-grey ; upper outer edge of wing white ; primary -coverts and 

 primary-quills black, the latter paler on the inner webs and white at the base, some 

 of the outer primaries brown at the ends ; secondaries black with grey at the base 

 on the outer web and white on the inner one, the white and grey increasing on the 

 inner secondaries where the black is confined to the tip ; tail white with a broad 

 subterminal band of black which is preceded by pale grey and tipped with the 

 same colour this same colour occupies the outer web of the innermost feathers ; 

 facial wattles larger than in L. lobatus and extending over and behind the eye ; 

 bill yellow, tip brown ; iris yellow ; lapels and spurs yellow ; tarsi and feet 

 purple-red ; lower end of tibia pink. Total length 377 mm. ; culmen 35, wing 228, 

 tail 95, tarsus 74. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 



Immature and Nestling. Appear to be undescribed. 



Nest. A depression in the ground. 



Eggs. Clutch, two to four ; of a yellowish-stone ground-colour, slightly tinged 

 with olive, with freckles, spots, and larger irregular-shaped markings of olive-brown 

 and blackish-brown distributed over the entire surface of the shell, together with a 

 few superimposed spots of dull bluish-black ; axis 41-42 mm., diameter 33. 



Breeding -season. August to October, January to April. 



Distribution and forms. North and North-western Australia and the Moluccas. 

 Three subspecies can be admitted : L. m. miles (Boddaert) from Timor Laut and the 

 Moluccas ; L. m. personatus (Gould) from Northern Territory and North-western 

 Australia, a darker race ; and L. m. harterti Mathews from Northern Queensland, 

 still darker and also larger. 



122. Lobibyx novcehollandise. SPUR-WINGED PLOVER. 



Gould, Vol. VI., pi. 9 (pt. vm.), Sept. 1st, 1842. Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 1, pi. 129, April 

 2nd, 1913. 



Tringa lobata Latham, Index Ornith., Suppl., p. LXV., 1801, after May: New South Wales, 



based on Watling drawing No. 242. 



Not of Linne, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 148, Jan. 1st, 1758. 



Vanellus novcehollandice Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool., Vol. XI., pt. II., p. 516, 1819, Aug. 



New name for T. lobata Latham. 



