-78 CIIAKADKIIN.E. 



on the eastern side of Ciicular Head Peninsula. They were in the dry sea-weed which lay on 

 the bank of pebbles just above higli-water mark. This place was used, no doubt, because the 

 sand was all liable to be covered with hij^h tides. The little depression that formed the nest in 

 each case was lined with white coralline. I found the first nest by watching the bird run on to it 

 from off the sand. When taking the eggs of the second nest the female made pretence of 

 lameness and a broken wing, as is often their custom. On the 28th December, 1886, I found a 

 nest in the middle of a metalled road, beyond Crayfish Creek, with heathy plain on either side, 

 and within one hundred and fifty yards of the sea. livery horse driven along the road must 

 have placed his feet within a few inches of the eggs, and the mailman traverses this road daily. 

 'I he shore close by offered ample situations for nests, besides there was an old sand-pit close at 

 hand. On the 28th August, 1889, I found a nest containing two eggs in the stones just above 

 high water mark, on the north-eastern side of Circular Head Peninsula." 



I fust found the nest of this species in Albert Parle, near Melbourne, quite accidentally, on 

 returning from an afternoons collecting excuision in that vicinity. In this instance the nest 

 was simply a slight depression in the ground, with a few short pieces of dried grass, and some 

 small fresh water shells taken from the edge of the lake, about one tiundred yards away, and 

 contained two eggs. Poinding one nest induced me to look for others, but although 1 \'isited the 

 vicinity again upon several occasions, I could not find either eggs or birds. A week' after I was 

 more fortunate, and by exercising no small degree of patience met with another pair near the 

 edge of the same lake ; walking quickly towards the place where I first saw the bird, who by 

 this time had joined her mate a short distance off, I sat down and watched their movements ; 

 presently she left her mate, flew away, and alighting about fifty yards from where 1 sat 

 commenced circling around, sometimes coming within a few feet of me; finally she sat down, 

 and after watching her for a short time I ran towards the spot, but was even then unable to see 

 the eggs. She tried the usual devices to draw me away from the place, by tumbling over and 

 laying with outspread wings on ttie grass, as if disabled, at the same time uttering piercing 

 notes of distress, common to many species. Feeling sure the nest was near, I remained close 

 to the spot until she returned, when, running backwards and forwards often quite close to me, 

 she stopped and again settled on the eggs. On moving towards her she immediately rose and 

 left two eggs exposed to view. During the three following seasons I was more fortunate, taking 

 over twenty nests from a belt about a (]uarter of a mile long and one hundred and fifty yards 

 wide, and although the park is several hundred acres in extent, I never found them breeding in 

 any other portion of it. As Albert Park became more a place of public resort, and the birds 

 thus continually disturl:)ed, they sought fresh fields and pastures new. 1 also found their nests 

 on a stretch of sandy waste between the St. Kilda railway line and the beach, now Middle I^ark, 

 part of it being scattered over with small dark stones about the size ol tlie Dotterel's eggs; here 

 both young and eggs were found, but not without the loss of much time, as the eggs so closely 

 resembled their surroundings. I have several times heard the faint chirp of the recently hatched 

 young birds, and knew that they must have been within a few yards of me, but have had to go 

 down on my hands and knees before I could find them. The young when just hatched are 

 covered with down, and closely resemble the egg shells from which they have recently emerged. 

 In this locality there was no attempt at forming a nest, the eggs being placed on the bare sand, 

 with a few small pieces of gravel placed around them. Especially were the eggs difficult to 

 discover after a high wind, which blew away all traces of the bird's footprints in the sand. In 

 fact I have known eggs to be blown away a yard or more from their nesting-place after a heavy 

 gale, instead of, as one would think, being more or less buried with the shifting sand. As the 

 eggs were often laid about mid-summer, it was no easy task finding them owing to the sun's 

 glare on the yellowish-white hot sands. To a far less extent also I obtained eggs on the beach 

 at South St. Kilda, and between Port Melbourne and the mouth of the Yarra River, from ten 

 to fifteen yards above high water mark. 



