Variations. 



84 



OEDICNEMUS. 



Gould (Handbook to the Birds of Australia, ii. p. 212) remarks that on the north coast of 

 Australia the Stone-Curlews have longer tarsi and shorter wings, but the few examples 

 which I have been able to examine do not confirm this idea. 



Synonymy. 



ara rius g a armsj I ^^^^^^^^ Index Orn. Suppl. pp. Ixvi, Ixvii (1801). 

 Charadrius frenatus, -' 



CEdicnemus longipes, Geoffroy St.-Hilaire,fide Vieillot, N. Did. d'Hist. Nat. xxiii. p. 332 (1818). 

 Charadrius giganteus {^Licht.), |^^^ ^^^^^^^ j^^^ ^g^^^ ^^ g^^^ 

 CEdicnemus giganteus, Licht., J 



CEdicnemus grallarius {Lath.), Gray, Genera of Birds, iii. p. 535 (1844). 

 Burhinus grallarius (^Lath.), Bonap. Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 416 (1856). 



Literature. Plates. — Temminck, PI. Col. no. 386; Gould, Birds of Australia, vi. pi. 5. 



Habits. — Gould, Handb. Birds Austr. ii. p. 210. Described as almost exactly resembling 

 those of the European Stone-Curlew. Gould says that it frequents the same description of 

 country, dry sandy or grassy plains, especially those which are rocky ; but Ramsay says 

 that it is also found on the sea-coast. 

 Eggs.— Harting, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1874, p. 459; Ramsay, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1877, p. 335 ; Thiene- 

 mann, Vogeleiem, pi. Ivii. fig. 2. Typical eggs are indistinguishable from those of CE. 

 recurvirostris. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The East-Australian Stone-Curlew may be distinguished from all its congeners by the 

 lar^e white spot across both webs of the fourth primary/, as well as of the first, second, and 

 third. It is the only large Stone-Curlew with conspicuous stripes on the breast. 



It is only known from the eastern half of the Australian continent, from the Gulf of 

 Carpentaria in the north to Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales. It may 

 possibly be only a winter visitor to the tropical portion of its range. In all these species, 

 which are remarkable for their long legs, the tarsi of young birds are shorter than those of 

 adults ; and with many species which are partial migrants, the residents are adults and the 

 migrants the younger birds. The North-Australian birds may be migrants, more or less 

 immature, and consequently ought to have, on an average, shorter legs than the older birds, 

 instead of longer ones as Gould imagined. 



