8o6 NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



great northern flight or migration. He has observed the birds in 

 hundreds, perhaps thousands, starting in long lines and flying high, 

 describing, as it were, the figui'es of so many huge centipedes in the sky. 



Dvu-ing the expedition of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoa-ia to 

 the Fiu-neaux Group, Bass Strait, November, 1893, laige flocks of 

 Curlews were observed on the Sampiiire Reef, south of Flinders Island, 

 in Franklin Sound. 



619. — NuMENius PH«opus (sub-species) vauiegatus, ScopoU. — (536) 

 X . uropygialis, Gould. 



WHIMBREL. 



Figure.— GovAd : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi., p!. 43. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxiv., p. 361. 



Gtoyru lineal Diatributiun . — Whole of Australia and Tasmania; 

 also New Zealand, New Guinea, and the Malayan Arcliipelago, migrat- 

 ing to Japan and Eastern Siberia. 



yeat and I'jggs. — Undescribed. 



Observatiuns. — This bird is a duplicate of the Curlew, only half the 

 size, and is slightly smaller than the Whimbrel of Em-ope, with which 

 some authorities believe the Austr-alian bird is identical. The Australian 

 Wliimbrel, also like the Curlew, breeds somewhere in Eastern Siberia, 

 passing along the coasts of Japan and China on migration to Australia 

 and Tasmania, but it also " winters " in India and other intermediate 

 localities. I have observed Whimbrels both on the east and west coasts 

 of Australia. I especially remember a number iimiiiug about the flat 

 on a creek behind TownsviUe, Queensland. The birds were tame and 

 appeared exceedingly hungiy, judging by the way they eagerly probed 

 the moist ground in searcli of food. Perhaps they had just amved 

 from one of their long flights. It was then early in September. 



620. — Mesoscolopax minutus, Gould. — (537) 

 Numenius minor, S. Miiller. 



LITTLE WHIMBREL. 



figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, to!., vol. vi., pi. 44. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. x.\iv., p. 371. 



(.'eDgrapIiira/ Dhtrihution. — Australia in general ; also the Moluccas, 

 migi'ating through China and Japan to breed in Mongolia .ind Eastern 

 Siberia. 



Nest and Egg'<. — Undescribed. 



