1882.] ON RARK birds' EGGS FROM MADAGASCAR. 353 



notes that the male of G. leucogeranos has a convoluted trachea, 

 only sliglitly folded in the carina sterni, extending in it for less than 

 half its extent' ; whilst in the female " there was formed a genu of 

 small size, that does not enter the carina sterni." The female of 

 G. carunculata examined had a trachea as well convoluted as the 

 most developed forms of G. americana, whilst in the male the con- 

 dition was as in the female of O. leucogeranos. 

 Grus austral asiana. c? ['i? $ ]■ 

 canadensis, c? • 



In Tetrapteryx paradlsea, according to Yarrell and Tegetmeier, 

 as well as in Anthropoides virrjo according to Parsons and Yarrell, 

 the trachea is convoluted, but does not enter the carina sterni, being 

 contained in a special groove developed along the anterior margin 

 of that bone. 



[In both species of Balearica the trachea is known to be quite 

 simple; and the same is probably true in Aramus scolopaceus.] 



3. On the Eggs of some rare Wading Birds from Madagascar. 

 By J. E. Harting, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived March 21, 1882.] 



Amongst a large collection of eggs recently brought from Madn- 

 gascar by the Rev. W. Deans Cowan, many of which are of con- 

 siderable interest as being hitherto undescribed, are the eggs of three 

 species of Limicolce which I should like to bring before the notice 

 of this Society, since they belong to members of a group to which 

 I have for some years been paying special attention. 



Mr. Deans Cowan collected in the neighbourhood of Fianarantsoa 

 in the Betsileo country, situated in the south central portion of 

 Madagascar ; and the extent of his collection shows how rich a 

 field for ornithologists is the district in which he has for some years 

 resided. 



The three species of Wading-birds of which I now exhibit the 

 eggs, as well as the skins, are a Pratincole {Glareola ocularis, 

 Verreaux), a Sand-Plover {jEgialitis geoffroyi, Wagler), and a Snipe 

 {Gallinago macrodactyla, Bonaparte). The Pratincole and Snipe, 

 which so far as I am aware have not been met with out of Madagascar, 

 are both very rare in collections ; the Sand-Plover, being generally 

 distributed throughout Southern Asia, the Malay Archipelago, and 

 Eastern Africa, is very much better known. 



1. Glareola ocularis, Verreaux, was first brought to the 

 notice of naturalists by the late Jules Verreaux so long ago as 1833, 

 when at a meeting of the South-African Institution at Cape Town in 

 that year he exhibited and described a specimen, which, with other 

 skins, he had then lately received from iNIadagascar. 



1 The observations of Mi-. A. O. Hume {cf. Tegetnieiei-'s ' Cranes,' p. 39, &c.) 

 do not, therefore, always hold good for this species. 



24* 



