AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 43 



2 77 Pied Oyster-catcher (White-breasted, Black and white), 



13 Seapie, Olive, Redbill, Torea, Haematopus longi- 



rostris, Mol., N.G., A., T., N.Z., Chatham Is. =vt. Eur. 



Oyster-catcher. Stat. c. shores 19.5 



Black; abdomen, rump, base tail above, below white; 



eyes, bill, legs red; bill 3.75in.; f., sim. Sand-hoppers, 



shellfish, worms. 



78 Black Oyster-catcher (Sooty), Redbill, Toreo-pango, 



H. fuliginosus, A., T., N.Z. Stat. c. shores 18 



Sooty-black; bill, feet, eye red; f., sim. Shellfish, worms. 

 1 79 Red-kneed Dottrel, Sandpiper (e) , Erythrogonys cinc- 



1 tus, A, Mig. r. muddy river banks 7.5 

 Head, upper-neck, chest black; throat, sides of neck, abdo- 

 men, under base tail white; back olive-brown; middle 

 tail feathers olive, rest white; thigh, knee pink-red; f., 

 sim. Insects. 



2 80 Spurwing Plover (Wattled), Alarm-Bird, Lobivanellus 



4 lobatus, A., T. Stat. c. plains, swamps 14 



"One of most beautiful of plovers;" crown black; face, 

 hind-neck, rump, under white; upper brown; tail white 

 tipped black; wattle on face lemon-yellow; spur on 

 shoulder; f., sim. Insects. 

 1 81*Black-breasted Plover (Stubble, Flock, Plain), Zonifer 

 1 tricolor, A., T. Stat. v.c. plains 10.5 



Upper brown; crown, line on face down to broad band on 

 chest, wing-quills black; line through eye, throat, abdo- 

 men white; tail white barred black; spot at base of 

 upper-bill blood-red; f., spot lighter-red. Insects. 

 1 82 Gray Plover (Black-bellied), Gray Sandpiper (e), May- 

 1 cock, Squatarola helvetica, cos. 



Mig. r. muddy shores, rivers 12 

 Crown, upper, wings, olive-brown mottled white; wing- 

 quills blackish-brown; rump white; tail white barred 

 light olive; face, under white, breast tinged buff; bill, 

 feet blackish; small hind toe; brighter in far North; 

 f., sim. Insects, worms. 



nest within the Arctic Circle, in Siberia, for it is a rule that a 

 migrating bird nests in the colder of the two countries visited. 

 Strictly, these twenty-eight species are Siberian, or at least 

 northern, forms, and not Australian birds. 



Many members of this group undergo a seasonal change of 

 plumage when breeding time comes. As they spend this season 

 in the Northern Hemisphere, we do not see them in their brilliant 

 colors, but in quiet, mottled browns and grays. 



Some are "accidental" visitors to Australia. Possibly they find 

 their way here by getting mixed with a company of allied birds 

 on their annual journey south. Thus the Common (British) 

 Sandpiper is a very rare bird here, though it retains its British 

 name — Common Sandpiper. Similarly, other European and 

 American birds have been recorded, and the number of these 



