27G 



CIIARADHIIN/E. 



Adult male. — (lenoful cohmr ahmv pnlf Ijru/rn . Ujijier irinij-covevU aiiil iniieniiost secoin lanes 

 llkf the back, llf lr>tt:er iriuy-corir/s iri/h a duskij intsli, tin' i/rcatcr series tipjii'l irilli ir/ii/e .■ i/uil/s 

 asliy-hrun-it, lite DiUerinosl primaries irif.h a hiackisli ivas/i vii their onler ivehs ami tips, tlie inner 

 primaries mari/iaed tritli irldle. : outer secowlaries ir/iite, broivuis/i -near the sluifl, e.rrep/ at the tip; 

 centre of rainj} bruwii, tritli a sliylit ilnskij ivaslt ; ceiUral upper tail-corer/s a nd eentral lail-Jeathers 

 brotcn tvith a more proiioniiceil tjtiski/ 7vash ; sides tif the rump and n/'/ier lail-corerls iiml lateral 

 tail-feathers ivhite ; croirtt of the head mitl hind nerk eiiinainon-rtifoas : a broad biiml on the forehead, 

 iiarroiviiiy at the sides above each eye ivhite, separated from the rufous crown of the head by ix-nother 

 hand of black : all the wider surface ivhite, from the base of the bill a narrow black streak, tvhicli is 

 continued in a still narroiver line beneath the eye, and borders the stiles of the rufous crotvn anil 

 hind-neck, and ividens out into a broicnish-b/ack patch, on the lower sides oj the neck : uiuler tail- 

 coverls and -under iviny-coverts white ; bill black ; leys ami feel black : iristlark broicn. Total lenyllt. 

 in the llesli 6 inches, winy 4'1, ta-il l'/\ bid O'oS, tarsus I'lo. 



AliULT KKMALK — Similar in plumaye to the adtdl male, but ha nil;/ the streak from the base of 

 the bill to the ei/e ciunanion-riifous, and a less amount of this colour on the crown of the heail and 

 liind-ni'ck. trith the white and black ba-nds on the fore-part cf the head ■narrotrer. 



Distyihntiou. — North-western Australia, Northern Territory, (Hieensland, New South Wales, 



Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Islands of Bass Strait. 



/~|(j\l IE Red-capped Dotterel is generally distributed, in suitable situations, along the sea- 



-L beaches of the greater portion of Australia and Tasmania, its range also extends to 



most of the contiguous islands and the south-eastern portion of New Guinea. Although essentially 



an inhabitant of the sea coast and adjacent brackish 



marshes in South-eastern Australia, it also occurs 



on some of the margins of the shallow swamps in 



;s3^i-3s-f--r>y'> -^H,^ the inland portions of the States. (Jccasionallv 



M. 'S"^?,:^'^'-'^'^--^^^^^"' -^"'"^TWI _ ill t'le autumn and winter it is seen in flocks, but 



far more frequently in pairs, resorting to low sandy 

 jf^ #1Z!^JJ^ _ beaches or margins of swamps or other sheets of 

 water, where it obtains its food, consisting chielly 

 of small marine insects and various minute mol- 

 luscs. It runs with great celerity, then will stop 

 and give tliat peculiar up and down shake of the 

 head common to most of the Australian Dotterels. 

 It llies with a curious side-long motion, at one 

 moment the white breast being visible and the 

 ne.xt the brown back, and as a rule near the ground, except when it llies for any distance, when 

 it will mount high in the air. It has a shrill note, difficult to syllabicate, but when once heard 

 can easily be recognised again. Of no species of the Order Limicokr was I more familiar with 

 in my early collecting days, near Melbourne and other parts of \'ictoria, and have also noted it 

 under somewhat similar circumstances in different parts of New South Wales, but chiefly in 

 the neighbourhood of Gerringong and Black Head in the Illawarra District, and at the Tweed 

 Kiver Heads, in Noithern New South Wales, where I ha\e procured its eggs and captured its 

 young. The latter run about within twenty-four hours of being hatched, and at that early age 

 of their e.xistence take to water when hardly pressed. 



The late i\Ir. K. H. Bennett, writing from Mossgiel, South-western New South Wales, in 

 1886, remarked : — " Iliaticnla riificapiUa is met within this locality frequenting the margins of 

 cane swamps and similar situations; it is, however, by no means numerous, and is generally 

 found in small flocks of six or eight individuals. It sometimes breeds this far inland, as was 

 proved by my finding its nest on a small island in a cane swamp, on the 24th May, containing 



_ i_^ — ^^^ 



RKD-CAPPKD DOTTKKEL. 



