GRALLATORES. 



329 



Gould, Birds of Aust. VI, Plate XI. 



Specimens of this well-known bird in the collection of the Expedi- 

 tion were obtained, according to Mr. Peale, " in the district of Argyle, 

 New South Wales. They were not plentiful," he continues, " and 

 seemed to prefer drier ground than the Spur-wing Plover ( Vanellus 

 gaUinaceiis), of Jardine and Selby, which is supposed to be the Wat- 

 tled Sandpiper of Latham, a common bird in moist meadows of the 

 same district of country." 



5. Genus ESACUS, Lesso7i, Traite d'Orn. I, p. 547 (1831). 

 1. EsACDS MAGNiROSTRis (Tenm.). 



(Edicnemus mngnirostris, Temm. PI. Col. V, p. (liv. 65, about 1824). 



Temm. PL Col. 387. 



Specimens from the Island of Mangsi. 

 Mr. Peale says of this bird : 



" It is common in the Philippine and Sooloo Islands, where we saw it 

 frequently. The two sexes are alike in size and plumage, they are not 

 gregarious, but are usually seen in pairs, or solitary. This species has 

 all the habits and even the shrill voice of the Oyster-catchers (Genus 

 HcBmaiopus), and like them, it frequents only the shores where the 

 water is salt, probing the sand and gravel beaches for Crustacea, which 

 seem to constitute the principal part of its food." 



pie; wings having a rudimentary spur on the carpal joint, and another, smaller, on the 

 next joint; the first naked, the second covered by the feathers ; they are of a dark sepia- 

 brown color, lighter beneath ; under coverts white ; secondaries white, with black tips ; 

 greater coverts dark brown, tipped with white; tail slightly rounded, consisting of twelve 

 feathers, white, with a black band near the tip ; bill and eyelids pale yellow ; irides 

 yellow ; wattle in front of the eye lake red ; legs lake red, with sooty scales. 



" Total length, eleven inches ; wing, from the carpal joint, seven and nine-tenths 

 inches ; bill, seveateen-twentieths of an inch ; to the corners of the mouth, one and one- 

 tenth inches; tarsi, one and seven-tenths inches; middle toe, including the nail, one 

 inch ; nail, one-fourth of an inch ; tail, three and three-tenths inches. 



" The two sexes are nearly alike in size and plumage, the male being somewhat darker 

 in color, and having the richer purple gloss." 



8.3 



