XESTS A.\D EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 8ll 



migrating to breeding gi'ounds in North-eastern Asia and extending to 

 Southern Eiu'ope. . 



Xest. — No doubt similar to that of the bird's larger relative, the 

 Greenshank (Glottis nebu/ariuxj. 



Eyys. — Clutch, thi'ee to four ; pyriform in shape ; textm-e of shell 

 fine ; surface glossy ; coloiu', rich stone, somewhat heavily blotched and 

 otherwise marked with dark-brown or chestnut and dull piu-plish-giey. 

 Dimensions in inches : (1) 1-57 x 1-08, (2) 1-48 x 1-09. 



ObservatiuKS. — This species is generally termed the Marsh Sandpiper, 

 and, as its name impUes, is just the Greenshank in miuiatvu-e. Its eggs 

 also, except for their smaller size, are a fac-siniile of those of the Gi'een- 

 shank. With reference to the Little Greenshank Mr. Seebohm remarks 

 that its breeding range extends from the delta of the Rhone and the 

 valley of the Danube, thiough South Russia, North Persia, and Tui-kestan 

 to Southern Siberia. In Australia the bird has only been recorded for 

 Queensland and New South Wales, but doubtless it has visited the coast- 

 line of Northern Australia. 



624. — Heteractitis brevipes, Vieillot. — (531) 

 Guiiihetta pulveruleiitu-s, Miill. 



GREY-RUMPED SANDPIPER. 



Figure. — Gould: Buds o£ Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. 38. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxiv., p. 449. 



Geijgni iiltical Bistrihution. — West and North-west Australia, Nor- 

 thern Territory, Queensland, and New South Wales; also New Guinea 

 and Malayan Archipelago, migrating through Cliina and Japan to 

 Eastern Siberia. 



Se.U and Eyya. — Undescribed. 



Observatioii.-i. — The shores of Northern Austraha must be a fine field 

 for the waders from the further north to vsdnter on, judging by the 

 number of kinds Gilbert noticed or procured at Port Essington and the 

 Port Darwin district. In the salt-water lakes and swamps at some 

 seasons of the year he saw the Grey-rumped Sandpiper in vast flocks 

 in company with Stints and Plovers. Mr. Tom Carter saw similar 

 flocks of the Sandpiper near the North-west Cape, November, 1899. 

 At one shot he bagged no less than eight birds. 



The Gi'ey-mmped Sandpiper, which is closely allied to H. incanus, is 

 not uncommon on the Sydney side of the coast. 



Seebohm, who calls the bird in the vernacular the Asiatic Wandering 

 Tattler, states that it breeds in Eastern Siberia, from Lake Baikal to 

 Kamtschatka, and passes along the coasts of Japan, China, FoiTUosa and 

 the Philippines, to winter in the islands of the Malay Archipelago and 

 Austraha. 



