300 
CHARADRIAD JE. 
If JEM ATOP (JS UNICOLOR, Wagler. 
(H. fulginosus, Gould.) 
Sooty Oyster-catcher. 
Gould, llandbk. Bds. Auxt., Vol. ii., sp. 499, p. 217. 
Like the preceding species this bird is found all over the 
Australian coast, it is however particularly plentiful on the rocky 
islets of Bass’s Straits, whither it resorts to breed during September 
and the three following months. The Seal Rocks about three miles 
distant from the “Nobbys,” Phillip Island in Western Port Bay, 
Victoria, is a favorite breeding ground of this species, but the 
difficulty of access to it on account of the risk of a boat being 
dashed to pieces on the rocks by the heavy surf continually breaking 
upon it, renders the place a pretty secure retreat for countless 
numbers of gulls, terns, oyster-catchers, tfcc. Eggs usually two in 
number for a sitting varying from a pale stone colour to light 
brown, in some instances being uniformly covered with round 
spots and dots of dark brown ; in others, heavily blotched and 
covered with figures resembling Egyptian hieroglyphics in every 
shade of dark umber and black. 
Two eggs taken at Phillip Island from off a grassy ledge on 
the 2oth of October 1883, which are average sized specimens, 
measure as followslength (A) 2'G3 x 1-65 inches; (B) 2-58 
x l - 64 inch. 
Hah. Port Darwin and Port Essington, Gulf of Carpentaria, 
Capo York, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, 
Richmond and Clarence Rivers Districts, New South Wales, 
Victoria and South Australia, Tasmania, West and South-West 
Australia. {Ramsay.) 
Genus LOBIVANELLUS, Strickland. 
LOBIVANELLUS LOBATUS, Latham. 
Wattled Plover. 
Gould, llandbk. Bds. Aust., Vol. ii., sp. 500, p. 218. 
“ The Spur-winged Plover breeds during September and the two 
following months, in some localities a month earlier or later. I he 
