^86 NESTS AXD EGGS Of AVSTKALIAN BlUDS. 



pear-shaped eggs, and rest upon tlic points of the eggs; thus the bird 

 would be comfortably balanced with two on either side. The other 

 reason is that on account of the nest on the ground being a, circular 

 hollow, the smaller or tapering ends of the eggs must naturally fall or 

 fit into the contractiug centre of the circle. But it may be purely to 

 economise space that the eggs are so arranged. 



604. — St)i;.\T.\i;c>i.A in.iA'ETicA, Linnieus. — (503) 

 GREY PLOVER. 



Figure.— GciyxXA : Birds of Great Britain, vol. iv., pis. 36 and 37 ; 

 Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. 12. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxiv., p. 182. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Seebohm and Harvie-- Brown : Ibis, 



pi. 5 (1S76); .Seebohm: British Birds, pl. 25, figs. 7-9 (1887); 



Legge : Birds of Ceylon, p. 933 (1880). 



Geoffrajiliico/ Di-^frihiifioii. — Australia in general and Ta.smania ; 

 also. New Guinea and the extreme south of the other hemisphere, 

 migrating to breed on the Tundras of Siberia and other places in the 

 north. 



Nest. — A simple shallow depression in the moss or peaty soil, lined 

 with a small handful of broken twigs and leaves of the surrounding 

 plants. Situated on low-lying boggy tracts of tundra (Seebohm and 

 Harvie-Brown). 



Egr/n. — Clutch, four; in shape some are rather pointed and others 

 slightly rounded at the smaller end ; colour varies, being olive-stone, 

 greyish-stone, or yellowish-stone, blotched and clouded on the larger 

 half, and chiefly round the end, with irregidar-edged blotches of blackish- 

 sepia, iiuming mostly in a longitudinal direction ; the markings ai'e 

 smaller near the minor end, and beneath the dark colouring are smears 

 and traces of bluish-grey. Dimensions, in inches, from 'l'\h to 196 in 

 length by from 1-42 to 1-41 in breadth (Legge). 



Obser rati mix. — The Grey Plover is cosmopolitan, being found more 

 or less .abundantly in everv portion of the globe. It is not known to 

 breed anywhere except in th(> timdras, north of the limit of forest gi-owth 

 in the circumpolar region. The western flocks pass through Central 

 Europe to winter in Africa, while the eastern birds cross Sibciia to 

 " winter," amongst other countries, in Australia and Tasmania, whore 

 the birds observed have been either youthful or in winter garb, and 

 conspicuous for the absence of the rich black belly and the beautiful 

 dappled grey back which arc the full summer plumage of the f.ar north. 

 The illustration in Gould shows the bird in its plain greyish Auslr.ill.m 

 dress. The Orev Plover is about ten inches in length, or .slightly 

 larger than the golden variety. Seebohm reminds us that in its habits 



