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Show 458 MR. J. E. HARTING ON T H E EGGS [June 16. about the beginning of September, and breeding shortly afterwards, although I have also found a nest with fresh eggs in it in October. The eggs, three in number, are generally laid on a bank at a short distance from the beach, without anv nest, being merely deposited in a hole." This species is not confined to the Falkland Isles, but is met with also throughout Patagonia and Chili. JEGIALITIS COLLARIS (Vieillot). (Plate LX. fig. 7.) This is one of the birds which Mr. Edward Bartlett found breeding on the Upper and Lower Ucayali (cfi P. Z. S. 1873, p. 309). His note on the species is to the effect that it breeds on the sand banks in company with Chordeiles rupestris and Phaethusa magniros-tris, laying two, sometimes four eggs, smaller but similarly coloured to those of our Little Ringed Plover. From a comparison of the eggs, I may add that those of AS. collaris are of a richer or warmer colour than those of AS. minor, which in other respects they much resemble. From what we know of the habits of its congeners, no doubt the full complement of eggs is always four. LOBIVANELLUS LOBATUS (Latham). Mr. Gould has kindly presented m e with eggs of this and the following species from N e w South Wales. In his 'Birds of Australia,' and subsequently published ' Handbook ' on the same subject, he has mentioned various localities for this bird in Southern and Western Australia, and he was then of opinion that it was not found in North Australia. Specimens, however, have reached m e from Wide Bay, Queensland, so that it is evident the species is pretty generally distributed. It is found in Tasmania and on the islands of Bass's Straits-particularly on Green Island, where it breeds. It frequents marshy ground and the borders of inland pools and lakes, and breeds in September and October. Mr. E. P. Ramsay, who has figured the eggs of this and the following species (Ibis, 1867, pi. ix.), states that " the eggs, which are four in number, are placed with the thin ends inwards, and laid upon the ground by the side of some tuft of grass or rushes, in a slight hollow made for their reception, with occasionally a few blades of grass placed under and around them, but as often as not without any sign of a nest." This Plover, like the well-known European Lapwing, shows great anxiety for its eggs and young, fluttering off at the approach of an intruder, and using every artifice, by feigning broken leg or wing, to entice him away from the spot. SARCIOPHORUS PECTORALIS (Cuvier). According to the observations of Mr. E. P. Ramsay (I. c.) this bird breeds in similar situations to the last named, but somewhat earlier in the season. It is more local, however, and frequents drier tracts of country. Mr. Morton Allport has recorded the fact of its breeding in Tasmania (Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasmania, 1859, vol. i. |
