GRALLATORES. 221 



the crown of the head only in the present species is black, 

 while in the Wattled Plover the sides of the chest and upper 

 part of the back are of the same colour. It is a very common 

 bird in the Cobourg Peninsula, inhabiting swamps, the borders 

 of lakes, and open spots among the mangroves, and, hke its 

 near ally, is mostly seen associated in small families. It is 

 rather a noisy species, frequently uttering a note, which is 

 not unlike its native name, both while on the wing and on 

 the ground. 



T. F. Gregory, Esq., informs me that he found this beautiful 

 little wader at Breaker Inlet ; where it frequented the sand- 

 banks in pairs, and was very shy; that the hood or membranous 

 sheath which covers more than half the head is of the clearest 

 gamboge-yellow, and, when the bird is alive, resembles the petal 

 of a flower; and that it lies close over the feathers, and protects 

 them when the beak is plunged into the sand in search of food ; 

 the eye is also bright yellow ; that the spine at the shoulder 

 is used very vigorously and with advantage when attacked by 

 birds of prey. The body is slight, very elegantly proportioned, 

 and the general appearance of the bird is very graceful. 



The stomach of the Masked Plover is very muscular, and 

 its food, while living in the marshes, consists of aquatic 

 coleoptera and small crustaceous animals, but when on the 

 plains of the interior it readily accommodates itself to the 

 kind of insect-food it may find there. 



The task of incubation is performed during the months of 

 August and September, the eggs, which are two or three in 

 number, being laid in a hollow on the bare ground at the 

 edge of a flat adjoining a salt-marsh ; they are of a dull olive- 

 yellow, dashed all over with spots and markings of blackish 

 brown and dark olive-brown, particularly at the larger end ; 

 they are one inch and five-eighths long by one inch and three- 

 sixteenths broad, somewhat pointed at the smaller end. 



Crown of the head and occiput jet-black ; sides of the face, 

 back of the 4ieck, rump, and all the under surface pure white ; 



