THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
The eggs of the northern birds are oval, and measure 56 mm. long by 
38 wide. 
The bird figured and described is a female, and was collected in New 
South Wales. 
Regarding the differences and nomenclature of the Eastern Bar-tailed 
Godwit, Stejneger wrote l.c . : “ I see no reason for lumping the eastern and 
western forms of this species together, as they are fairly separable by the 
darker rump and heavier barred flanks and axillaries of the former. As a rule 
haueri is paler than the typical lapponica^ but a specimen from Bering Island 
is fuUj^ as deeply coloured as average European specimens, being however the 
darkest of an extensive series. The name given by Naumanu is undoubtedly 
older than those given by Gray or Gould. It is not a museum-name only, 
as Naumann, when publishing it, indicated a character by which he thought 
it separable. That this character afterwards failed, does not invalidate the 
name ; hence there is no good reason for rejecting it.” 
196 
