NESTS AXD EGGS OE AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. Su/ 



Oh.-tervatiuns. — As its uame uiiplies, this bii'd is a small edition of 

 either the Cm-lew or Whiiiibrel. It is foiuid in tlie coastal localities 

 dui'ing Slimmer in Australia in general, but has not been observed in 

 Tasmania. It likewise migrates from the Northern Hemisphere, 

 followiug in the track of its larger congenei-s. 



Diuing the first week of October, 1896, Mr. T. Carter wrote that 

 Curlews and Little Whimbrcls appeared at Point Cloates, near the 

 North-west Cape of Australia. 



Gould mentions having shot a pair of Little Wliimbrels out of a flock 

 of about twenty which was flying over the racecoiuse at Maitland, New 

 South Wales, 4th April, 1839. Judging by the date, the birds, after 

 spending a summer in Australia, were probably flocking to letiuTi to the 

 land of their- nativity, in the far away north — Siberia. 



On the plains of North-west Australia these birds may often be 

 noticed. Their mode of flight against the wind closely resembles that 

 of the domestic Pigeon. On aUghting on the ground they immediately 

 become very active in their search for food, which consists of insects, 

 especially grasshoppei-s, and a few small seeds. 



Throughout my general observations on the Plovers, &c., family, 1 

 have frequently alluded to the name of the late Mr. Henry Seebohm. 

 Mr. Seebohm made a life study of his particular feathered friends, the 

 members of the extensive order Limicolce tracing as many as ii ; 

 coidd to their breeding grounds within the Arctic Circle, both in Europe 

 and Asia, likewise following them to their wintering quarters in South 

 Africa, and has left to posterity a monument of original researcli of the 

 most instructive and fascinating kind in his work, " The Geographical 

 Distribution of the Family Gharadriidce, or the Plovers, Sandpipers, 

 Snipes, and Their Allies." However, the eggs are still lmkno^vll of 

 many of the Australian species, such as the Curlew, the Whimbiels, the 

 Great and Little Sandpipers, and several others. Is there no enthusi- 

 astic Australian oi-nithologist or oologist to follow these birds till they 

 give up their secrets as Mr. Seebohm did the British birds? 



I feai- it will not happen in my day, or my son's ; but I prognosticate 

 some of oui- gi-and-children will yet follow these birds to their breeding 

 haimts. No Australian oology will be complete without the description 

 of the eggs of these migi-ants to the far off frigid zone. 



Let me close with an extract from Mi-. Seebohm's own grapliic 

 description of what he terms " The Paradise of the CharadriidcE " : 

 " Winter is finally vanquished for the year, and the fragments of his 

 beaten army ai-e compelled to i-etreat to the triumphant music of 

 thousands of song-birds, amidst the waving of green leaves and the 

 illumination of gay flowei-s of every hue. The transfoniiation is perfect. 

 In a fortnight the endless waves of monotonous white snow have 

 vanished, and between the northern limit of forest gi-owth and the shores 

 of the Polar Basin smiles a fairy-land full of the most delightful little 

 lakes and tai-ns, where Phalaropes swim about amongst Ducks, and 

 Geese, and Swans, and upon whose margins Stints and Sandpipers trip 

 over the moss, and the stranded potamogentons, feeding upon the larvae 

 of mosquitoes or on the fei-menting frozen fruit of last year's autumn. 

 It is incredible how rapidly the transformation was completed. Twelve 



