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Show 456 MR. J. E. HARTING ON THE EGGS [June 16, is the egg of Esacus recurvirostris there can be no doubt, since its size, shape, and peculiar coloration preclude its belonging to any other species inhabiting India. It resembles in some respects the egg of CEdicnemus crepitans, but is larger, the ground-colour of a warmer tint, and the surface more richly blotched. Thienemann figures it (plate lvii. fig. 1) as larger than the Australian 03dicnemus grallarius; but this is surely a mistake. Jerdon states (Birds of India, ii. p. 653) that he never procured the eggs of this bird in India ; but Mr. Layard found it breeding in Ceylon. PLUVIANUS JEGYPTIUS (Linn.). (Plate LX. fig. 2.) The only account that I have found of the nesting of this bird is in Badeker's work. He refers to it as breeding on the sandy islands of the Nile, and says " it scratches a hole in the sand or gravel, and lays four eggs therein. These are very difficult to find, as the vigilant bird when it observes the approach of an intruder covers them over before it leaves the nest." The eggs seem to be extremely rare in collections. That now figured is the only one which I have seen. It was found on a sand-bank near Damietta, by Mr. J. H. Cochrane, who shot the old bird in May 1862. It may be here observed that this so-called Nile Plover is not confined to East and North-east Africa, but is also found on the west coast. Hartlaub records it from Senegambia (Orn. W.-Afr.). Monteiro found it in Angola (Ibis, 1862, p. 336); and I have in my collection a specimen which was obtained by Mr. Ussher on the Volta river in August 1870. HOPLOPTERUS SPINOSUS (Linn.). The North-African Spur-winged Plover is one of the commonest birds in Egypt, where it remains throughout the year. Captain Shelley states (Birds of Egypt, p. 232) that it commences to breed in March, at which season he has found as many as thirty nests close together towards the point of a sand bank. It also breeds in the fields. The nest consists of a circular shallow hole in the sand, roughly lined with short pieces of dried reeds, just sufficient to prevent the eggs from touching the ground. Four, taken by Mr. J. H. Cochrane about three miles above Damietta, are now before me. They are not unlike the eggs of Lobi-vanellus goensis, above referred to. CH^ETUSIA CORONATA (Gmelin). For two eggs of this African Plover I am indebted to m y friend Mr. E. L. Layard, who procured them with several others in Cape Colony. The nest, he informed me, is a mere depression in the soil, and was generally found to contain but three eggs. Andersson thought that^this species must breed in Damaraland, as he found young birds there in almost every stage of plumage (cf. Birds of Damara Land, p. 269). A specimen is figured by Thienemann (plate lviii. fig. 6); but the figure is unsatisfactory for want of colour. |