790 NESTS AND EGGS Of AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



606. OCHTHODROMUS (^GIALITIS) BICINCTUS, 



Jardine and Selby.— (512) 

 DOUBLE-BANDED DOTTREL. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. i6. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxiv., p. 2iz. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Potts : Trans. New Zealand Inst., 

 vol. ii., p. 67 (1870);' Duller: Birds of New Zealand (1873), 

 also vol. ii., p. 4 (188S); Campbell : Southern Science Record 

 (1883), also Proc. Austn. .\ssoc., vol. v., p. 433 (1893). 



Geographical Distribution. — Australia in general, and Tasmania ; 

 also New Guinea, New Zealand, &e. 



Ntst. — Merely the usual little hollow on plains in the vicinity of 

 the coast or in dry river beds. 



Eijgs. — Clutch, three ; incUned to pyriform in shape ; texture of 

 shell fine and thin ; surface without gloss ; colour, of a gi-cenish tinge 

 or light greenish-stone (but sometimes greyish-stone), spotted and fanci- 

 fully streaked fairly over with sepia or black. In some specimens the 

 markings form patches about the obtuse end. Dimensions in inches : 

 (1) 1-4 X -98, (2) 1-37 X 1-0. The eggs are very similar to those of the 

 Hooded Dottrel (.M. cucullata) in shape, size, and character of 

 markings, with the exception of having the greenish tingcfl gi-ound- 

 colour instead of the stony shade. (Plate 22.) 



Ohxervations. — This very interesting species takes its name from the 

 double markings — first chestnut and then black — across the breast, 

 interspaced with white. The rest of the under-pluniage is white, with 

 a greyish or brownish coat. The Double-banded Dottrel is found in 

 Australia in general, but chiefly in Tasmania and the intermediate 

 islands, and New Zealand, its breeding country. 



Eggs of the Doublc-banded Dottrel have not yet been recorded from 

 Australia or Tasmania. The bird disappears from the mainland in 

 spring and, according to the opinion of Colonel Lcgge, probably breeds 

 on some of the islands in Bass Strait, as the young birds found in 

 Tasmania diuing the autumn most likely come from that locality. In 

 reference to the migration observed by Gould at Georgetown on the 15th 

 May, Colonel Legge proceeds to remark that is about the time the birds 

 would be arriving on a southern migration from tlieir breeding grounds. 

 Might tiie birds not have come from tlie breeding groinids in Now 

 Zealand on partial migration to Tasmania and Australia ? 



Mr. J. F. Mulder has observed the Double-banded Dottrel ])lentiful 

 on thciplains near Geclong during autumn, but the birds all disappear 

 before spring. Mr. A. J. North states they ai'c common about the 

 Botany Swamp and flats at the mouth of Cook's River,yNew South Wales, 

 during April, May, and June. Tlie latest. I have seen the Double-banded 

 Dottrel in Victoria wa.s the 21st August (1897). when I saw several 



