AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 49 



2 101 Eastern Little Stint (Little), Red-necked Sandpiper, 

 5 Land-snipe, Little Dunlin, Pisobia ruficollis, E. Sib., 



Jap., China to A., T., N.Z. =vt. Eur. Little Stin, 



Mig. flocks c. shores 6.2 

 Upper ashy-brown mottled darker; wing-quills blackish- 

 brown; centre tail feathers blackish-brown; rest whit- 

 ish; forehead, under white; faint chestnut band on 

 chest; bill, legs black; brighter in far north; f., sim. 

 Insects, shellfish. 

 1 102* Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Siberian-, Asiatic-Pectoral), 

 5 Sharp-tailed Stint, Marsh Sandpiper, Marsh Tringa, 



Heteropygia aurita, (P. aurita, Am.O.U.), Alaska, E. 

 Sib., Japan, Ind, to A., T., N.Z. Mig. r. coast 8.5 



Upper dark-brown marked gray; crown faint rufous; wing- 

 quills dark-brown; face, under whitish, breast brown- 

 ish; f., smaller. Small water-animals. 

 1 103 Curlew-Sandpiper, Pygmy Curlew, Curlew-Stint, Ancy- 



1 lochilus subarquatus (Erolia ferruginea, Am.O.U.), 

 A., T., N.Z., almost cos. exc. Pac. Is. 



Mig. flocks r. shore 8.5 

 Upper grayish-brown; eyebrow, rump, under white, chest 

 tinged brown; bill 1.5 in., black, arched; brighter in far 

 north; f., sim. Insects, worms. 



2 104 Knot, Knot-Snipe, Tringa canutus, almost cos., A., T., 



2 N.Z. Mig. r. tidal mud flats 9 



Upper grayish-brown; under white; flanks, breast barred 

 grayish-brown; upper base tail white barred black; 

 brighter in far north; f., sim. Insects, worms. 

 105 Eastern Knot (Japanese), Great Sandpiper, T. cras- 



sirostris, E. Sib., Jap., Ind. to A. Mig. v.r. shore 11.5 



Crown, neck, brownish-gray; back, wings brown; rump 

 white; tail brownish-gray; breast dark-brown marked 

 white; abdomen white; bill olive, If in.; brighter in 

 far north; f., sim. Insects, worms. 



bird. Think of the journey twice a year! Six of these wading- 

 birds even visit New Zealand each year. How do they find their 

 way there, across a gap of over 1000 miles, without any land what- 

 ever? Inherited memory is strong, but how did the first batches 

 find their way? Their annual journey supports the geographer 

 in his surmise that Australia at no very distant date extended 

 very much farther to the east. Indeed, these birds almost cer- 

 tainly follow the old coast of the Australian continent. 



Snipe, some Plovers, Dottrels, Curlews (Sea), Whimbrels, God- 

 wits, &c, thus go to the North each year to partake of the abun- 

 dant banquet of fruits, &c, preserved in the great ice chamber of 

 the North. Numberless flocks of birds follow up the melting ice, and 

 so nest unmolested on the great tundras and plains of Siberia. 

 They wear their bright wedding dress in the far North, and are 

 known here only in the quiet mottled browns and grays. In 

 autumn these birds depart. They travel mostly at night, to 



