j82 A'ESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



young. Mr. Lau, on the Queensland Downs, has watched sitting birds 

 disturbed by the approach of cattle or sheep. Tlie bird does not quit 

 its charge, but fmiously flaps its wings and compels the animals to turn 

 aside. Dr. Eamsay says it will even fly in the face of an animal in order 

 to produce the desired effect. 



I believe the Spur-winged Plovers are partly nocturnal, feeding chiefly 

 at night. In the country the cries of passing birds are frequently 

 heard in the night. 



On one occasion I found on a little " island " in a swamp on the 

 Lower Werribee Plains, a nest of the Spur-winged Plover containing 

 three eggs (two just chipped and one addled). Tlie nest was a slight 

 cavity in the short vegetation, lined chiefly with short rough bits of 

 dead sticks, and sheltered by a hchen-covered out-crop of rock. Date, 

 Oct. 3rd, 1896. 



I have captiu'ed young about a week old the fii-st week in ,August, 

 and yomig have been seen in April, therefore the breeding months for 

 the Spiu'-winged Plover vary according to the wet seasons ; but the usual 

 months. may be taken from July to January, when probably two broods 

 are reared. 



Yovuig in down may thus be generally described : collar round tlic 

 neck and underneath paii-s white; forehead, crown of head and lest of 

 upper surface mottled black and brownish-grey. The species may be 

 readily distinguished by the wattle-lobes on the face ; while the spurs 

 on tlie wings are soft and rudimentary. 



Mr. Charles McLennan, who has spent mvich of his time in the wilds 

 of the Mallee covmtry, has furnished me with the following dingo and 

 Plover incident: — "I heard some Plovers making a great disturbance, 

 so I crept up till I could see what was the matter. A dingo and some 

 Plovers were at a crab-liole. The dingo kept trotting round the water- 

 hole apparently quite vmconcemed. Ever)' now and again the Plovers 

 would fly just over the dog, when he would make a spring at them with 

 the agility of a cat, and once or twice he all but gi-abbed a bird. I am 

 sure he would have eventually caught one, but he liappencd to approach 

 too near to where I was planted, and as there were £1 hanging to liis 

 scalp I could not resist tlie temptation of shooting him, and thus .saved 

 the Plovers." 



602. — -LoBivANELLUS MILES, Boddaert. — (501) 

 7j. permnntus, Gould. 



MASKED PLOVER. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. lo. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxiv., p. 140. 



Privious Descriptions of Eg!;s. — Gould : Birds of Australia (1848) , 

 also Handbook, vol. ii., p. 221 (1865); North: Trnns. Roy. 

 Snc, South Australia, vol. xxii., p. 164 (i8q8). 



<li(i(jrn iiJiiciil Dixtrilnitiiiii. — Norlh-wcst Australia, Northern Terri- 

 tory, and North Quecnsiand ; also New Guinea and Timor Laut. 



