220 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



stepped from the boat before every creatiu'e was made ac- 

 quainted with my presence — no small annoyance to me, whose 

 object was to secure the wary cereopsis and eagle, which with 

 thousands of petrels and many other kinds of water-birds 

 tenant these dreary islands. 



The sexes are scarcely to be distinguished from each other, 

 either in size or plumage; both possess the spur on the 

 shoulder, but it is much more developed in the male than in 

 the female ; the beautiful primrose-coloured wattle, with which 

 the colouring of the bill and the bold eye closely assimilate, 

 the pinky vermilion hue of its legs, and the strongly contrasted 

 colours of its plumage, render it one of the most beautiful 

 of the Plovers yet discovered. 



Head, back of the neck, and sides of the chest black ; 

 back, wing-coverts, and scapularies dark greyish brown in- 

 clining to cinnamon ; primaries black ; tail white, crossed 

 near the extremity by a broad band of black ; sides of the 

 face, throat, and all the under surface white ; eye rich prim- 

 rose-yellow ; wattles primrose-yellow ; bill pale yellow, with 

 a horn-coloured tip ; tarsi purplish red ; scales black ; spur 

 yellow. 



Sp.601. LOBIVANELLUS PERSON ATUS, Gould. 



Masked Plover. 



Lohivanellus personatus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part x. p. 113. , 

 Al-ga-ra-ra, Aborigines of Port Essington. 

 Wattled Plover, Residents of Port Essington. 



Lohivanellus personatus, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. vi. 

 pi. 10. 



This Plover, which is as abundant in the northern parts of 

 Australia as the Wattled Pewit is in the eastern, is more 

 elegantly formed than that species, being of the same size in 

 the body, but with more lengthened legs ; the fleshy wattles 

 surrounding the eyes are much more extensively developed; 



