HIMANTOPUS. 



2S3 



HIMANTOPUS LEUCOCEPHALUS. 



AUSTRALIAN STILT. 

 HiMANTOPus colli postici colore nigro nee ad caput nee ad dorsum extenso. 



Diagnosis. 



Intermediate forms between this species and H. melas occur, but it is not known that Variations, 

 they completely intergrade. 



Himantopus leucocephalus, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837, p. 26. 

 Himantopus novse-hollandise, Bonaparte, Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 431 (1856). 



Synonymy. 



Plates. — Gould, Birds of Australia, vi. pi. 24. 

 Habits. — Gould, Handb. B. Austr. ii. p. 246. 

 Eggs. — Campbell, Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds, p. 55. 



Literature. 



The Australian Stilt may be recognized when adult by the distribution of the black on Specific 

 the back of the neck, which does not extend to any part of the head, and is separated from ** aracters 

 the black mantle by a white collar. Young in first plumage are said to resemble the 

 young of the Common Stilt. 



The Australian Stilt breeds in Australia, and has occurred in Tasmania. It may Geographi- 

 possibly be only a winter visitor to the Malay Archipelago, but it has been recorded from 

 New Guinea, Celebes, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, the Philippines, and some of the smaller 

 islands. Its alleged occurrence in New Zealand rests on very unsatisfactory evidence. 



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cal distribu- 

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