"903 J BliKNEV, .V. Queensland Notes on Some Migratory Birds. 2 I3 



without moving, taken my eyes off it for a moment, have found 

 it very hard to locate again. Often w^hen driving sheep have I 

 watched the desperate efforts of a mother bird to beat off some 

 particular spot the advancing host of " woollies," throwing herself 

 with outspread wings in the faces of the wondering sheep. Poor 

 little isabella ! it would indeed be a hard heart that would not go to your 

 assistance ; and as I ride away I am amply repaid by the way she runs, 

 breathless but contented, little short runs each ending in a tip up and down, 

 round two or three pieces of broken stone against which squat her two little 

 mottled chicks. Though generally feeding on the ground, I have noticed 

 them at times wheeling in the air, now just clear of the vegetation, and 

 again as high as a house, in company with their Oriental cousin and White- 

 rumped Swifts (Cypselus paeificus), catching something, but I could not 

 see what. They often fly and call during moonlight nights. They leave 

 us at the end of April, but it is no uncommon thing for a few individuals 

 to remain right through the winter. 



Oriental Pratincole (Glareola or i en talis). — Never saw this species 

 anywhere but at Clare Valley, Richmond. Here in 1899 they arrived on 

 30th December and remained till early in March, being all gone by the 

 middle of the month ; between these dates they were fairly common, always 

 in company with Stiltia isabella. During the following summer I was 

 away, but in 1901 they showed up again in their old haynts on the i6th 

 December ; this time they only remained a few days. This Pratincole is 

 a handsome bird, much more so than isabella, the dark olive of the back 

 contrasting with the white tail coverts and tail, the rich deep rust-red of 

 the under surface of the wings showing up conspicuously when flying. 



Sharp-tailed Stint {Heteropygia acuminata). — Reaches Richmond middle 

 of November, and leaves again early in April. Generally to be found in 

 small parties of four or five, but as many sometimes as thirty, wading, not 

 like the .Egialitis, where the bare expanse of mud meets tfie water, but 

 rather in back waters where the swollen stream has flooded the grass land, 

 or where the tops of the water-grass and aquatic herbage just push their 

 heads above the surface. Here the Tringa or Stint loves to stand knee- 

 deep, while the Mgialitis seldom wet more than their feet. 



Little Stint {Limonites ruficollis). — Shot one at Clare Valley, Rich- 

 mond, in February, 1900, which was kindly identified for me by Mr. de Vis. 

 Only time seen. 



Greenshank {Glottis nebularius). — My only experience of this bird is 

 during the past summer, at Clare Valley, where I first noticed it in the 

 middle of November. Thence to 29th March following it could be fairly 

 frequently seen, in little mobs of three or four, always about water. 



Little Whimbrel {Mesoscopolax minutus). — A solitary individual at a 

 dam 20 miles to the south of Hughenden, on the 30th October, 1899, was 

 my introduction to this species, but subsequently I have seen them in large 

 numbers. In 1899, although arriving at Clare Valley early in November, 

 they were not numerous till past midsummer. By the end of January 

 flocks of 20 or 30 might be seen, and these increased by 6th March to flocks 

 of seven or eight hundred. By 6th April they had all gone again. During 

 the past summer they did not show up at all till 3rd April, when they 

 suddenly appeared in thousands at one of the Maxwelton (near Richmond) 

 dams. They were everywhere, in ihe air and on the ground, and as I rode 

 among them, kept rising to get out of my way like a plague of grasshoppers. 

 They remained but a couple of days, and then left entirely. Their cry, which 

 is very noticeable, sounds like " Whai-ut whai-ut," uttered loudly and 

 boldly. 



