168 notes on the habits of birds breeding in n.s.w., 



2. Glareola-grallaria. 



This somewhat singular bird is one of the few migratory species 

 that visit this part of the colony and remain during the intense 

 heat of summer. As a rule it arrives towards the end of 

 September and departs about the end of February. During that 

 interval it breeds, and the places chosen for this purpose, and in 

 fact its habitat during its stay are the bare patches of ground, 

 entirely destitute of vegetation, so frequent on the plains here. 

 Some of these bare patches are of considerable extent, and the 

 surface of the ground is broken up into countless small pieces, 

 from the size of a pea to that of a walnut, giving the appearance 

 of having been chipped over with a hoe. This is partly due to 

 the nature of the soil and to the intense heat and dryness of the 

 climate which causes the surface to crack in all directions and 

 become quite loose. It is on these loose patches that the Glareola 

 deposits its eggs, 2 in number. It makes no nest, but simply 

 lays its eggs on the bare surface of the loose broken ground, and 

 so much do they assimilate in form and colour to the surrounding 

 lumps of earth that unless the bird is seen to move off them a 

 person might walk on them and not observe them, and on several 

 occasions I have taken my eyes olf the spot for a few seconds and 

 then had considerable difficulty in distinguishing the eggs again. 

 As a rule the eggs are laid in October, but this year, 1884, for the 

 first time, I obtained them in September. Usually it is very shy, 

 but during the period of incubation it looses this shyness and both 

 parent birds will allow themselves to be approached quite closely 

 and seem utterly regardless of danger in their anxiety to protect 

 their eggs or young. In fact I have seen the female bird so loath 

 to quit the eggs that it was only when I touched her with my 

 hand that she would quit the nest, pecking savagely at my 

 hand several times before she did so ; the male bird in the mean 

 time laying flat on the ground, with outstretched wings, a few feet 

 ofi", uttering the most plaintive cries. 



The young in the earlier stages are exceedingly helpless, and 

 although the colour of their down so closely resembles that of the 



