288 TURNICID*. 



Bab. Cape York, Wide Bay District, Richmorid and Clarence 

 Rivers Districts, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria and 

 South Australia. {Ramsay.) 



Genus PEDIONOMUS, Gould. 



PEDIONOMUS TORQUATUS, Gould. 



Collared Plain- Wanderer. 



OouU, Handbh. Bds. Aust., Vol. ii., sp. 489, p. 187. 'JSL J? 



This bird inhabits the large grassy plains of New South Wales 

 and South Australia, and has likewise been found breeding as far 

 south as the neighbourhood of Melbourne and Adelaide, but in 

 both of the latter localities it is considered rare. The nest is 

 constructed of dried grasses, and is placed in a slight depression 

 in . the ground underneath the shelter of some convenient 

 shrub or tuft of grass. Eggs four in number for a sitting ; in 

 shape pyriform, of a stone-white ground colour, thickly freckled 

 and blotched, and a few smudges here and there of diflferent shades 

 of umber-brown and slaty-grey, a few nearly obsolete blotches of 

 the latter colour appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. 

 An average specimen in the Dobroyde Collection, taken at 

 Springfield, near Goulburn in December 1875, measures 1'35 x 

 0'94 inch. Another from a set of four, taken near Adelaide, 

 measures 1'2 inch in length by 0"89 inch in breath. 



Specimens in my own collection taken near Pyramid Hill in 

 Victoria, measure as follows: — length (A) 1-33 x 0-94 inch ; (B) 

 1-34 xO-95 inch. 



October and November are the principal breeding months of 

 this species. 



Hab. New South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South Australia 



