OOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND. 509 
petrel, which there rest awhile from almost ceaseless wanderings over 
the surrounding ocean. Exposed to gales that sweep over a vast 
unbroken expanse of sea and break against this little speck of rock, 
the only screen that may shelter the home of the shore plover is the 
tussock of wiry-grass or saw-edged carex, for no tree is there found to 
lend a friendly shelter. The eggs, three in number, are ovoido-conical, 
ovoid, with the smaller end blunt, or somewhat pyriform; smooth, 
sub-shining. Pale or warm stone-colour, freely sprinkled with 
blackish-brown, or almost black irregular marks, angular lines and 
dots; pale greenish-white, very much scribbled over with fine 
irregularly shaped marks and minute dots, these become more 
conspicuous towards the larger end, round which they form an 
unevenly defined zone; stone-colour, more or less covered with 
irregularly shaped marks of umber brown; pale stone-colour, with a 
faint greenish tint, sparingly sprinkled below the bilge with very 
small blackish-brown freckles, some of which seem sunk into the 
surface, the upper portion splashed with bolder marks of umber and 
- deep chestnut brown; rich warm stone-colour, abundantly covered 
with blotches of chestnut and umber brown interspersed with minute 
dots, freckles or fine linear scribbling marks of dark brown. Length 
one inch five and a half lines, with a breadth of one inch. Some 
specimens very slightly exceed these measurements; some are more 
shiny than others. Specimens from the same nest show marked 
difference in colouration, as some are much more profusely blotched 
than others. Eggs from Rangitutahi were obtained October 3rd. 
Genus—Anarhynchus. 
65. Anarhynchus frontalis, Quoy et Gaim. 
Crookbill Plover, Sand-lark.—The Crookbill at the breeding 
season is less wary than perhaps than any other species of the family; 
its nesting-place would be discovered with little difficulty were it not 
for the wonderful instinct it exhibits in selecting the ground for 
depositing its eggs. These are laid in a slight depression amongst 
the pebbles of some river-bed without any addition of vegetable 
material. They harmonise in their grey tint with the general colour of 
the shingle. The breeding season extends through spring and the 
early months of summer. This part of the year is often extremely 
rough on the river-beds, on account of the prevalence of N.W. gales. 
But the tearing nor’-wester with its hot feverish breath comes not 
alone, in its train follows the heavy down-pouring rain, the melting of 
the snow in the ‘back ranges’ to keep the noisy blusterer company 
and work spells, sudden and fitful, on the switt-flowing rivers. As 
the wind rushes through gorges and mountain passes seeming to dry 
up dewy moisture, to parch all sappy juices in tender herbage, one 
can forecast to an hour when ‘ the fresh’ will come down and change 
the clear shifting stream into a wide muddy torrent. How does the 
Crookbill manage to preserve the eggs or young during floods and 
freshes? It lays usually three eggs, which are oval, ovoid, or pyri- 
form in shape, sometimes having the larger end very broad; they are 
of a greyish stone colour, having the surface dotted over with minute 
black spots. There is much uniformity in colouration, in looking at a 
* “Trans, N.Z. Institute,” vol. VI., p. 150. 
