II.EMAIIlPCS. 2G1 



molluscs aiul other marine animals, and occasionally small lish. At Port Stephens, New South 

 Wales, in October, 1897, Mr. R. Etheridge, the Curator, was attracted by a number of these birds 

 feeding near low water mark, and on making an examination found they were eating the 

 molluscs of '• cockle shells," Do«(;,v (f(VA)/W(s, Lamarck, ninety-five per cent, of the shells being 

 broken in the same place, the anterior portion of the left valve. Some of these rifled shells he 

 brought back with him, and they are at present in the collection. 



Dr. \V. Macgillivray sent me the following note from Broken Hill, South-western New 

 South Wales.- — "On the northern islands of the Barrier Reef, lying off the Queensland coast, 

 I found I luiiiatopiis loui^u'ostyis commoner than its congener, //. uuicolov. It was always very 

 wary, tlying off and uttering its alarm note in such a way as to send all other wading birds 

 away also." 



Mr. Tom Carter wrote as follows from Western Australia: — " ILeiuatupiis lougirosli'is is a 

 common resident species along tlie coasts of North-western Australia. These birds are usually 

 seen in pairs, but about the end of September or October, after the breeding season, they go about 

 in flocks of twelve or more. Eggs were taken on various dates between the 5th July and 17th 

 September. They are laid on dry sand above high water marl<, and the nest (of which there is 

 very little beyond a few pieces of seaweed) usually attracts attention by the numerous feet marks 

 of the birds around it. The clutch is two. This species feeds mostly on sandy beaches." 



Mr. R. N. Atkinson sent me the following notes from Tasmania : — " lI,cinatopiis low^iniitvis 

 occurs plentifully on the shores of Tasmania and the adjacent small islands, also in the I'urneaux 

 and Hunter Groups, in Bass Strait, where it is most common, and there, although usually 

 met with in pairs, I have ijuite often noticed a hundred or so feeding in company. The mouths 

 of rivers and creeks are favourite resorts, and in such places it likes to breed ; also on sandy 

 points near, or at low tide connected by extensive llats with low sandy islands, where abundance 

 of food may be obtained. 



" On the 6th October, 1905, my father found a nest containing two hard set eggs near the 

 mouth of I")etention River, on the north coast of Tasmania. Many years before he found nineteen 

 nests, only a few feet apart, on the beach near a sheltered sandy point on the west coast, all 

 containing eggs. The nesting place is only a mere hollow scratched in the sand near high water 

 mark, and measures about nine inches in diameter by two and a half inches in depth. Late in 

 November, 1908, I noticed a newly hatched young bird on a small sandy island near the entrance 

 to Port Sorell, Tasmania, and on the 29th October, 1909, on a beach on Flinders Island, I found 

 three nests, each containing two eggs, all slightly incubated, and a fourth nest with two eggs on 

 the point of hatching. In the vicinity, on the same day, a parent bird followed me along the 

 beach for about a quarter of a mile, making a great fuss and excitedly attacking me for having 

 closely examined a newly hatched down-covered chick, which I had found in hiding near a 

 bunch of seaweed. It was on this beach that I managed, on suddenly rounding a point, to 

 surprise one of these remarkably wary birds, for instead of walking leisurely down the beach, as 

 if feeding, and trying to appear unconcerned, as they usually do, this one had no choice but to 

 fly from the nest, but it is the only time I have seen one ' caught napping.' On this somewhat 

 e.Kposed beach all the eggs were placed well away from the sea, on rising ground, which was no 

 doubt a very necessary precaution against the heavy weather so common in this locality. On a 

 small sheltered island in this group I noticed a nest containing a single fresh egg, only a few 

 feet above high water mark, and about three paces away from a set of eggs of .Jlgialitis wonacha. 

 Ilaniatopits loiigirosti'ls sometimes lays three eggs." 



While resident at Circular Head, on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Dr. L. Holden made 

 the following notes : — " ILniiafopns longirosti'is is numerous about Circular Head. It occurs in 

 flocks of six to about a dozen, but on the less frequented beaches one sees them in pairs and 

 constantly about the same spots. The birds are wary and keep well away from a gun, but a 



