HOODED DOTTEREL. 171 



Adult male. Back, wing-coverts, scapulars, and long innermost secondaries 

 ashy-grey ; outer edge of wing white ; bastard-wing brown ; small coverts near the 

 edge of the wing and primary-coverts brown tipped with white, the four outer 

 primary-quills dark brown, the remainder white tipped with brown ; secondaries 

 similar in colour, some of the inner ones entirely white ; head and throat black as 

 also a collar on the upper mantle which joins the black of the throat on the sides 

 of the neck ; a black patch on the sides of the breast, the feathers of which have 

 white tips ; a collar on the hind-neck and the entire under-surface pure white, 

 including the axillaries ; bill yellowish-red, tip black ; iris hazel, eyelids scarlet ; 

 tarsi and feet flesh-pink. Total length 215 mm. ; culmen 17, wing 145, tail 66, 

 tarsus 27. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male but smaller. 



M elanisiic form (C. c. torbayi}. Head and throat black ; a white collar on the 

 nape ; entire back and upper tail-coverts black like some of the wing-coverts ; 

 primaries black, with a large white patch on the inner web ; rest of under-surface 

 white, including the under wing- and tail-coverts. 



Littler, Handb. Birds Tasm., p. 133, wrote : " Female Resembles the male 

 save that the head is mottled with white," following Gould, but we find the male 

 and female to be alike in coloration. 



Immature. Differs from the adult in the entire absence of black on the head 

 and throat, the former being greyish-brown while the latter, as also the fore-head, 

 is white ; the black of the upper-surface, in the adult, is here indicated by dark 

 brown feathers ; the dark patch on the sides of the breast, much the same as in the 

 adult ; secondaries white with broad subterminal band of brown ; throat pure 

 white ; brown patch on the side of the breast ; bill dark brown, yellowish at the 

 base ; legs and feet paler yellow than in the adult. 



Nestling. Upper-surface pale buff, vermiculated with dark brown ; tail black ; 

 fore-head more sparsely marked than the back ; a black nuchal band ; cheeks, chin, 

 throat, and entire under-surface white, including the under tail-coverts and the 

 under wing-coverts ; a spot of black on each side of the lower throat. 



Nest. A depression in the ground. 



Eggs. Clutch, two or three ; ground -colour pale stone, marked all over, but 

 more at the larger end, with purplish-black and lavender spots ; axis 39 to 39.5 mm., 

 diameter 26.5 to 27. 



Breeding -season. September to January. 



Distribution and forms. Confined to Southern Australia, outside the tropics, 

 and two subspecies admitted : the eastern C. c. cucullatus (Vieillot) and the western 

 C. c. tregellasi (Mathews) a larger and darker form, with apparently a tendency to 

 melanism as evidenced strongly in the aberration above named C. c. torbayi Mathews. 



Genus EUPODELLA. 



Eupodella Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. III., pt. 1, p. 83, April 2nd, 1913. New name for 



Eupoda Brandt 1845 ; not Eupodes Koch 1835. Type (by monotypy) : Charadrius asiaticus 



Pallas. 



Eupoda Brandt, in Tchihatcheff's Voy. Sci. Atlai Orient., pt. n., p. 444, May 3rd, 1845. Type 



(by monotypy) : C. asiaticus Pallas. 



Not Eupodes Koch, Deutschl. Crust., Vol. I., tab. 8, 1835. 



Medium-sized Plovers with long slender bills, long wings, long legs, and 

 small feet. 



The culmen is long and slender, the dertrum little swollen, much longer than the 

 middle toe. Wing long and pointed, first primary longest. Tail short and slightly 

 rounded. The metatarsus is very long, more than twice as long as the middle toe 

 and about twice as long as the culmen. 



