/EGIALITIS. 281 



away when they approached too near. One nest I discovered on a small island of shingle at 

 Copmanhurst contained one young bird, and the other eggs were chipping. I determined to 

 take a photograph of this interesting liiid, marking the place carefully. I returned two days 

 after to find the young ones had already left the nest, but were close by, as the old birds resorted 

 to their usual tricks to allure me away from the spot. The breeding season commences in August, 

 and their eggs may be found until December." 



Mr. Thos. P. Austin sent the following notes from Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South 

 Wales: — " .^nialilis mclaw^s is very numerous here all the year round, and although it is a bird 

 which might easily escape notice, I have seen them at almost every lagoon on the estate and along 

 the Talbragar River. There are also always one or two pairs at my house dam, where they 

 breed every year. These birds nest almost anywhere provided it is not too faraway from water. 

 I have seen nests on sand in the bed of the river, and on top of stony hills quite half a mile 

 away from any water. They usually lay only two eggs, but sometimes three, and these are most 

 difficult to find without watching the bird return to them." 



While resident at Hamilton, X'ictoria, Dr. W. Macgillivray sent me the following note: — ■ 

 " .Esictitis mdanops is found all the year round in the vicinity of dams, swamps or small creeks, 

 where it feeds on worms, insects and their larva' found in the mud and sand along the water's 

 edge. Its dull coloured upper surface is in marked contrast to the black and white of the breast; 

 this the bird seems to know, as when its haunts are approached it often runs up from the water's 

 edge and stands quite motionless, with its back turned towards the intruder. When this is done 

 the bird often seems to vanish, so similar is the colour of the back to its surroundings. A 

 favourite nesting-place is a sandy, slightly-grassed spit in the bed of a creek, the eggs being 

 deposited in a slight depression in the sand. A pair of birds will haunt a certain locality for 

 two or three months before the eggs are laid, which is usually in November or December." 

 Writing from Broken Hill, South-western New South Wales, in 1902, Dr. Macgillivray 

 remarked: — "I have frequently seen .TLgtalitis nulanops on the shores of dams in this district, 

 generally in pairs or small family parties, never in flocks like .-ZT. iiijiiapilla." 



Dr. A. M. Morgan wrote me from Adelaide, South Australia: — " j^gialitis mdanops is more 

 of an inland bird tha.n .Ei^ialitis ruficapilla, and I have never met with it on the sea coast. 

 These birds go about singly and in pairs, each pair keeping to their particular swamp or water- 

 hole. They are rather late breeders, a clutch of three heavily incubated eggs being taken at 

 Stone Hut, near Laura, early in November, 1895, and another clutch of three fresh eggs I took 

 on 24th November, 1906, in a sand bunker on the golf links at Glenelg. In the first case the 

 eggs were laid amongst the pebbles on the banks of the Rocky River; the second clutch was 

 laid upon the bare sand." 



Mr. Tom Carter sent the following notes from Broome Hill, South-western Australia :— 

 " j-EgiaUtis mdanops was occasionally seen about Point Cloates, North-western Australia, but is 

 regularly seen about Broome Hill. Every year a pair arrive at a stock tanlc, near the house, 

 about the end of October. On the 20th October, 1908, I shot one to ascertain if it was breeding, 

 and found an egg, ready for laying, in the oviduct. On the 28th November, 1909, a nest 

 containing four eggs was found on a gravelly ironstone ridge, two hundred yards from the water 

 of the tank, and on the 13th January, 1910, half grown young were at the saine tank." 



While resident at Bellerive, near Hobart, Tasmania, Dr. L. Holden made the following 

 notes: — " (;)n the 6th December, 1896, an example of .-■/•'gialitis nigrifrons was shot by Mr. \^^ 

 F. P. Richardson at May's Beach, Frederick Henry Bay, and sent to me. It is a bright coloured 

 little bird with a red eyelash and red and black bill, and agrees with Gould's description of this 

 species, but he omits to mention the rust-coloured upper tail-coverts." 

 71 



