-EGIALITIS. 283 



iEgialitis cucuUata. 



llOiiLiED 1)0T'1'EJ;EL. 



Charadritis cuadliitus, Vieill., Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., Tom. XXVII., p. 130 (1818). 

 Jlialicula monac/ia, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VI., pi. 18 (184S). 

 ^Kgialites nwuacha, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., V^ol. II., p. 231 (1805). 

 .Kyialitis cncuUatus, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mas., Vol. XXIV., p. 302 (1896). 

 ^Eyialitis cucullatn, Sharpe, Hand-1. Bds., Vol. I., p. 155 (1899). 



Adult male. — General colour above, including the lesser and mi'dian iipper ^ving-coverts and 

 longest inner secondaries pale ashy-grey, (he greater imng-coverts ashy-grey largely tijrped with white ; 

 primarii's blackish-brown, crossed near their lips with a broad tvhite band ; remainder of secondaries 

 ■ivhile, the outer webs of the outer ones blackish-brown near their tips ; centre of rump like the back, 

 the sides white ; central npper tail-coverts blnckish-bro/un, some of them ivhitish on the outer webs ; 

 central lalj-fealhers blackish-brown, the lateral oni's n-hile Jvith a hi ackish-brown band near iJte tip, 

 ii-hich decreases in si~e totvards the outermost feather ; entire head, nape, throat sides of fore-neck and 

 mantle brotvnish-black ; hind-neck white ; fore-neck and all the binder surface and under tail-coverts 

 ■ivhite ; " bill deep pink at the base, black a/ the tip ; legs and feet /lesh colour ; eyelids reddish-orange , ■ 

 iris chestnut-brown with a bn.ff' rim" (}io\den). Total length in the jlesh S:5 inches, iving 5 't!, tail 

 2 6, bill 0-7, tarsus 1-1. 



Adult female. — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distvibidiou. — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, 

 Tasmania and larger islands of Bass Strait. 



/"I^HE Hooded Dotterel is found in most favourable situations along the coast-line of 

 J_ Southern Australia, Tasmania and the larger islands of Bass Straits. Its stronghold 

 is undoubtedly Tasmania and the southern portions of the continent, becoming rarer the further 

 north one goes in Eastern and Western Australia. Although Dr. E. P. Ramsay, in his" Tabular 

 List of Australian Birds," has included Wide Bay, Queensland, and the Richmond and Clarence 

 River Districts, Northern New South Wales, in the distribution of this species," and the late 

 Dr. R. B. Sharpe enumerated two specimens in the " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," 

 from Queensland,! personally I have never seen or heard of a specimen that was obtained in 

 any locality north of Sydney, and it is even an extremely rare species in the southern neighbour- 

 hood of the metropolis. It is strictly confined to the sea-beaches and contiguous coastal districts, 

 and is not found in the far inland portions of the States like the Red-capped and Black-fronted 

 Dotterels. Gould is in error in stating that " the female differs from the male in having the 

 crown mottled with black and white, the face and throat white, and on having only a narrow 

 line of black at the base of the neck behind." I have now before me adult specimens of both 

 sexes from Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales, and they are absolutely 

 indistinguishable from one another in plumage. Moreover, Dr. Lonsdale Holden, while resident 

 at Circular Head, North-western Tasmania, shot one of these birds with the typical brownish- 

 black head, nape and throat, as described above, and upon dissecting it found it to be a female 

 containing a well developed egg. Variation exists in adult specimens, principally in the extent 

 of the broad white cross-band on the apical portion of the quills. In some specimens both webs 

 are entirely crossed by it, but in a larger number the four outer primaries have the outer webs 

 more or less broadly margined with brownish-black, and the shaft only at this part white. An 

 adult male, too, obtained by the late Mr. George Masters at Port Lincoln, South Australia, in 



' Ramsay, Tab. List Austr. Bds., p. 19 (iSSS). f Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mas., Vol. XXIV., p 303 (1896). 



