788 N£SrS AXD LOGS 01- AUSTRALIAN BIKOS. 



605. — Chauadiuus dominicus, Miiller. — (504) 

 G. fulvus, Gmeliii. 



LESSEE GOLDEN PLOVER, 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fo!., vol. vi., pi. 13. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxiv., p. 195. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Seebohm : British Birds, pi. 25, fig. 

 5 (18S7) ; Legge : Birds of Ceylon, p. 938 (1880) ; Robson ; 

 Trans. New Zealand Inst., vol. xvi., p. 308 (1883). 



Geoyraijliical Distributiiin. — Australia in general and Tasmania; 

 also New Zealand, New Guinea, and the south of the other hemisphere, 

 migrating to the northern portions of both the Old and New Worlds to 

 breed. 



Nest. — A mere hollow in the grounfl upon a piece of turfy land, over- 

 grown with moss and lichen, and lined with broken stalks of reindeer 

 moss (Seebohm). 



AV/'/.v. — Clutch, three In i'mii-. Two clutches collected in [Siberia by 

 Seebohm are thus de.scril)t'd Ijy Colonel Legge : " One set is light clay- 

 bull, and the other very jiale buff with an exceedingly faint greenish 

 tinge. The former examples are richly marked with dark sepia, in 

 the form of straggly-edged blotches collected in a tolerably well marked 

 ring round the large ends, with numerous large blotches extending quite 

 round to the small ends. The pale clutch is marked with sepiarbhick 

 clouds at the large ends aiid the. same very dark blots towards the small 

 ends, under which are a few specks of bluish-grey. In shape the eggs 

 are pyiiform, but not much compressed at the point ; the obtuse ends 

 are rather flattened. Tlie first clutch vaiy in size from 1'89 to 1"91 

 inches in length by from 127 to 1'28 inches in breadth; the second 

 from 189 to 1-92 inches by from 1'27 to 1'32 inches." A pair collected 

 in Canada is exceedingly pyrifomi ; texture comparatively fine ; sm-face 

 glossy ; colour, stone, heavily blotched, especially round the upper 

 quarter in one example, with lunber from light to dark, almost black. 

 Dimensions in inclu's : (1) 1-93 x 1-3. (2) 1-88 x 1-3. 



Ohs<rvatii)iii?. — 'I'liis liird, also called the Asiatic Golden Plover, 

 breeds on tlie tundras (naked tracts of slightlv undulating land, diversi- 

 fied by moor, swamp, and bog, interspersed with lakes, and abounding 

 with reindeer moss) of Eastern Siberia, from the valley of tlie Yenisei 

 to the sea. It passes through Japan, South Siberia, and Mongolia on 

 its migration tour, and " winters," aiiioiig.st other places, in Australia. 

 straying as far as New Zealand. In order that " wintering," as applied 

 to this and other like birds, may be clearly understood, 1 should remark 

 that as they breed in the iKn-thern hemisphere during the summer there, 

 they come to us for the purpose of " wintering ' during our summer in 

 the soutli. Although nowhere very plentiful, the Lesser Golden Plover 

 visits every part of Australia and Tasmania, airiving in the soul hem 



