71 



NOTES ON THE OCCURRENCE IN TASMANIA OF 



THE "SOUTHERN STONE PLOVER " ((EDICNJSMUS 



GHALLAE1VS). 



By Alexander Morton. 



(Bead August 10th, 1895.) 



Tlie first published list of the birds of Tasmania was printed 

 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society in Vol. III., 1854, 

 page 142, by the Rev. T. J. Ewing, of New Town. In that 

 list Mr. Ewing gives the numbers as follow r s :— Families, 28. 

 Genera, 114. Species, 169. In 1886 Proceedings, an inter- 

 esting paper, by Colonel W. V. Legge, R.A., E.Z.S., is pub- 

 lished, entitled " Systematic List of Tasmanian Birds." 

 In this list Colonel Legge divided the birds into the 

 following twelve orders : — Accipitres — The Hawks 

 and Owls, Psittaci, Cockatoos and Parrots. Picari^e — 

 The Cuckoos, Kingfishers, Swifts, Morepork, and Night 

 Jar. Passeres ■ — The Crows, Summer Bird, Thrush, 

 Magpie, Butcher Bird, Thickheads, Flycatchers, Robins, 

 Wrens, Honoyeaters, etc. Ooltjmb/E — The Pigeons. 

 Galling — The Quail. Fulicarlze — Native Hen, Coot, Rail, 

 etc. Grallje — The Snipe, Curlew, Plover, etc. Gavite — The 

 Terns, Petrels, Albatross. Steganopodes — The Gaunet, Cor- 

 morants, and Pelican. Anseres — The Swan and Lacks. 

 Herodiones— The Herons. Pygopodes — The Grebes; and 



Penguins, making 35 families, 



Since the above was printed 



been 



from 



the 



sent to the Museum, 

 Tasmania. I give them 

 — (1.) The Senii-pahnated 

 first specimen shot at 



the order, Impennes, 

 consisting of 186 species. 

 the following birds have 

 being hitherto unrecorded 

 in the order as they reached riie:- 

 Goose, Anseranas melanoleuca, 



the Lake River, near Cressy, Juue 20th, 1888. This fine 

 bird, not quite as large as the Cape Barren goose, is found in 

 large numbers inhabiting the swamps and lagoons of Aus- 

 tralia. (2.) The Australian Drongo, one of the large fly- 

 catchers, Chibia hracteata, was shot on the East Coast in 1888. 

 The Magpie Lark of the Colonists of New South Wales, 

 Grallina picata, was secured at Stanley in the same year. 

 During the month of May, 1892, a pair of beautiful ducks were 

 shot at Cambridge. On examination they proved to be the 

 Blue-billed Duck of Australia, Erismatura australis. 

 Mr. North in his work, entitled " Nests and Eggs of 

 Birds in Australia and Tasmania," page 346, writes: — "This 

 bird is dispersed over the southern and western portions 

 •of the Continent of Australia." The latest addition to 



