734 
Birds of Celebes: Charadriidae. 
Sexes. “The sexes bear a general resemblance to each other, and the young of the first 
autumn is only distinguished by the feathers being margined with grey” (Grould 4). 
Egg. Apparently only one to a sitting. Oval, fairly smootli-shelled ; creamy stone-colour, 
boldly blotched, streaked and spotted with blackish brown, chiefly at the large end, 
paling in some places to yellowish or raw Sienna-brown; a few small pale inky-purple 
sidjsurface-looking spots and clouds; size 66 X 44.5 mm (from Hume 17). 
Nest. Hone. Mr. Hume’s egg from Little Cocos was found in the coral-sand a httle above 
high-water mark, in a small depression. 
Distribution. Cocos and Andaman Is. (Hume 7, 5); ?Mergui Is. (Davison 10)\ Sumatra, 
Banka, Java (fide Salvadori d 2)-, Cape Simpang mengaio, Borneo (Everett d 4)-, 
Philippines — Luzon (Whitehead 21), Palawan (Whitehead 15), ? “Philippines 
and Sooloo” (Peale d 2); Celebes — (Reinwardt a 8), Gorontalo Distr. (Riedel in 
Dresd. Mus.j; Kalao (Everett 22); Sula (Allen 5); Hahnahera, Ternate, Raou, 
Moor, Ceram, Aru, Kei, Waigiou, Salawatti, Batanta, Mysol, Jobi, Hew Guinea, 
Admiralty Is., Duke of York, Hew Britain, Louisiades, Solomon Is., Hew Caledonia, 
Yide Id., Ferguson Id. (fide Salvadori d 2, d 7); H. Australia and H. Queensland 
(Ramsay 16). 
This giant Plover is a frequenter of the sea-shore, where, as Gould and 
others observed, it preys upon crabs — for cracking which its bill appears ad- 
mirably adapted, — “marine insects, worms and various kinds of mollusks”. It 
has rarely been killed in Celebes. Rosenberg, who seems to have been well 
acquainted with it, probably in Gorontalo, speaks of it as shy, occurring singly 
on the strand, flying noisily but lightly, and, when put up, uttering a sharp 
call sounding like “Wili”, whence its name. The natives of N. Australia know 
it as “Weelo” (4). 
Its nearest affinities are with E. recurvirostris (Cuv.) of India, the Burmese 
countries and Ceylon, a smaller, weaker bird with the bill upcurved, confining 
itself, according to Hume, strictly to sheltered banks of rivers where it feeds 
on fresh-water shells and crustaceans. In coloration it closely resembles Esacus 
magnirostris, but its upturned bill easily distinguishes it. Salvadori (d 1) has 
found this difference a sufficiently good reason for separating E. magnirostns generi- 
cally from it. Like Mr. Hume, we cannot agree with this proceeding, and 
trust for once in a way that the distinguished Italian ornithologist will have few 
followers, even though Dr. Sharpe (d 8) is now to be found in his train. 
GENUS LOBIVANELLUS Strickl. 
Size rather large; bill about as long as the head or longer, a maxillary 
groove along the basal two-thirds, nostril linear, in the middle of the groove. 
A small hallux present, the other toes much shorter than the tarsus, which is 
scutellated in front; tail generally longer than the tarsus. On the face a wattle 
of variable size; on the carpus a larger or smaller spur. 
