270 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



country in which it breeds, and that the young make an 

 annual migration towards the south and disperse themselves 

 over every part of the coasts of Southern Australia, the islands 

 in Bass's Straits, and Tasmania, all of which, as well as the 

 Houtmann's Abrolhos off the western coast, are visited by it. 



The habits, manners, and economy of the bird in Australia 

 do not differ from those it exhibits in Europe ; there, as here, it 

 feeds on marine insects, as well as on small bivalve moUusca 

 and Crustacea. 



The sexes, when fully adult, are alike, but the colours of 

 the female are not so bright as those of the male ; the young, 

 even when they have attained the size of the adult, differ con- 

 siderably, being much darker in colour, and destitute of the 

 white markings of the face, and the chestnut-red tints which 

 add so much to the beauty of the old birds. 



The adult has the forehead, eyebrows, an oval spot before 

 • each eye, the centre of the throat, ear-coverts, nape of the 

 neck, lower part of the back, abdomen, and under tail-coverts 

 white ; from eye to eye across the forehead a band of black, 

 which dips downwards in the centre to the bill ; from the 

 base of the lower mandible proceeds a mark of black, which 

 passes upwards to the eye, dilates backwards towards the 

 nape, covers the front of the chest, and bifurcates towards 

 the insertion of the wing ; mantle and scapularies reddish 

 brown irregularly varied with black ; rump black ; wings 

 black, the basal part of the inner webs and the shafts of the 

 primaries white ; secondaries broadly tipped with white, 

 forming a conspicuous bar across the wings ; bill black ; irides 

 black ; legs and feet rich orange, darkest on the joints. 



The young has the whole of the upper surface and the 

 breast mottled brown and black, the white mark on the throat 

 much larger, and only a trace of the white markings of the 

 face and nape. 



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