48 NEW ZEALAND BIRDS. 



60. Charadrius bicinctus. Jard. 



Dottrel. PonowEiu. 



Above, greyish-brown ; forehead, white, inarf^incd above and below witli blaek ; a black 

 hne from the gape tlirough the eye, down the side of tlie neck ; below, white, with a band 

 of black on the breast, and another of chestnut on the upper abdomen. 



L., 7 ; W., 4-75 ; B., "75 ; T., 1-2. 



JSgg. — Greenish-white, speckled with black; length, 1-35; brcadtb, 1; ovoid, rather 

 pointed. 



Mob. — Both Islands ; Lord Howe's Island. 



" This pretty little Dottrel is very common on our shores, and is 

 frequently met Avith also at a considerahle distance inland. It asso- 

 ciates in flocks, and is always to he found on the ocean-beach, or on 

 the dry sands and grassy plains in the vicinity of the coast ; hut I 

 have also observed it on the Onetapu desert, in the interior of the 

 North Island, and it is very commonly met with on the pastures 

 several miles from the sea. It has been recorded from Lord Howe's 

 Island; and Mr. Ronald Gunn states that it is plentifully dispersed 

 along the northern shores of Tasmania; but Mr. Gould saAV it only 

 once in Australia, when, as he informs us, considerable numbers 

 visited a common in the neighbourhood of George Town, and 

 appeared to be acting under some migratory impulse; for, after 

 remaining a day or two, they suddenly disappeared. This occuiTed 

 about the 15th of May, the middle of the Australian winter; and the 

 flights consisted of birds of various ages and in different states of 

 plumage. 



" It is more active in its habits than the preceding species, run- 

 ning swiftly over, the sands, and stopping at short intervals to bob its 

 head and utter a rather plaintive note. It rises in the air with a 

 very rapid movement of its wings, and usually adopts a circular 

 course, the whole flock wheeling simultaneously and descending to 

 the ground in an oblique direction." — Buller. 



61. Charadrius ruficapillus. Temm. 



Eed-cappeu Dottrel. 



Above, pale-brown, each feather margined with a lighter tint ; forehead, crossed by a 

 broad band of white, which diminishes to a point at posterior angle of the eye ; above this 

 a band of black ; crown, nape, and back of neck rich rusty-red ; a line of black from the 

 gape extends across the eye down the sides of the neck ; under-surlacc while ; bill, dark 

 reddish-brown. 



L., 5-75 ; W., 4 ; B., -6 ; T., -9. , j . • 



ifffi!/.— Universally dispersed over the Australian sea-shores ; one straggler recorded m 

 New Zealand.* 



Transactions N,Z. Institute, Vol. XII., p. 246. 



