AUSTRALIAN LIMICOL/E. 975 



locality given by Dr. Ramsay is Rockingham Bay, and 

 thence down to Victoria and South Australia; it is recorded 

 from all localities in his " List." In West Australia it 

 extends as far north as King's Sound, having been procured 

 at Derby. It frequents inland districts on the Continent, 

 being one of the species of its genus which does not confine 

 itself to httoral districts, equally prefering inland waters and 

 marshy localities at the head of sequestered inlets. Gould 

 found it breeding on the Namoi, and I know it has been 

 obtained in Riverina, not far from the Murray. 



34. iEoiALITIS RUFICAPILLA. 



(Red-capped Dotterel). 



Charadrius rtificapillus, Temm., PI. Col. 47, tig. 2, (1838 V). 



u^qialopMlus riificapiUiis, (Temm.), Gould, Haiidb. B. of Au8tr., 

 i'i., p. 235, (1865). 



JEc/ialitis ruJicapiUa, (Temm.), jRamsfiy, Lit^t Au8tr. B., p. 19, 

 (1888). 

 This elegant little bird, the smallest of the Australian shore 

 plovers, is a resident of the Australasian sub-region, extending 

 from Tasmania northwards as far as the South East coast of 

 New Guinea. On the north coast of the continent it is 

 recorded I'rom all localities where collections have been made, 

 but it has not been met with on the far north-west coasts, 

 but in that distant part it has no doubt been overlooked. 

 Further south, in the Perth District, it is common, as is like- 

 wise the case on the south and east coasts of Australia. It 

 has likewise been obtained in the interior, and I have observed 

 it in marshy districts north of the Murray in August, In 

 Tasmania it is one of the commonest of our small shore birds. 

 It extends to New Zealand, being recorded as a straggler to 

 the colony by Buller. 



35. tEgialitis hiaticula. 



(Ringed Dotterel). 



Charadrlus hialicula^ Linn., Sy.s. Nat. i., p. 253, (1776). 

 ^qialitis hiaticula (Linn.), Gould, Llandb. B. of Austr., ii., p. 231, 

 (1865) ; Rain^iy, List Austr. B., p. 19, (1888). 



Apparently the Ringed Dotterel of Europe takes its place 

 in the avi-fauna of Australia on the evidence of a sintile 

 example, which Gould states was killed at Port Stevens. Dr. 

 Ramsay writes me that he knows of no other instance of its 

 occurrence, which j)roves that this bii'd is a very rare straggler 

 to the Australian region, as it has proved itself likewise to the 



