268 BIRDS Of AUSTRALIA. 



Genus GAMBETTA, Kaup. 



As in the case of the preceding genus, Totanus, there is 

 only one species in Austraha ; in size and structure it is very 

 similar to the Redshank of the British Islands. 



Sp. 531. GAMBETTA PULVERULENTUS. 



Grey-rumped Sandpiper. 



Tringa glareola, Pall. (Bonaparte). 



Totanus pulverulentus, Miill. Naturk. Verhand. Land- en Volkenk., 

 p. 152. 



griseo'pygius, Gould in Proc. of Zooi. Soc, 1848, p. 39. 



M ul-woo-ing-a-ning-e, Aborigines of Port Essington. 



Totanus griseopygius, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi. 

 pi. 38. 



All the specimens I have seen of this bird were killed near 

 the harbour of Port Essington, where it frequents the sandy 

 beaches and rocks just above high-water mark ; the salt- 

 water lakes and swamps near the settlement also afford it a 

 natural asylum, and there, at some seasons of the year, it may 

 be seen in vast flocks in company with Stints and Plovers. 



The stomach is very muscular, and the food consists of 

 aquatic insects and their larvae and small-shelled mollusks. 



But little difference exists in the colouring of the sexes. 



The head, all the upper surface, rump, and tail are greyish 

 brown ; primaries dark brown ; line over the eye and all the 

 under sm'face white, the neck, breast, and flanks strongly 

 freckled with brown ; irides reddish brown ; bill blackish 

 brown, except the base of the under mandible, which is 

 scarlet ; legs and feet hyacinth-red. 



In winter the upper surface is of a much lighter hue, and 

 the under surface is of a greyish white and destitute of the 

 freckles of brown. 



Total length 8| inches ; bill if ; wing 6| ; tail 2| ; tarsi 1 J. 



