BIRDS OF TASMANIA. 127 



courageous as the Spur-wing. Sometimes a number will nest 

 close together in a field, for common safety, perhaps. 



As may be expected, its food consists of all kinds of insects 

 and their larvae, gathered in the open country and cultivated 

 fields. 



GREY PLOVER 



(Squatarola helvetica, Linn). 



Male (breeding plumage). General colour of upper surface, 

 including scapulars and wing coverts, mottled with bars of black 

 and ashy-white; lower back and rump dusky-brown, spotted and 

 fringed with white; upper tail coverts and tail white, barred 

 with black ; quills black, inner webs white ; crown of the head 

 like back, but with more black; forehead and eyebrow white, 

 extending down the sides of the neck to the upper breast, where 

 it forms a large patch ; lores, sides of the face, ear coverts, and 

 under surface black, except abdomen and under tail coverts, which 

 are white ; axillaries black ; iris dark hazel ; bill, legs, and feet 

 black. Dimensions in mm.: Length, 263; bill, 33; wing, 201; 

 tail, 74; tarsus, 45. 



Female (breeding plumage). Similar to male, save that the 

 upper surface is less spangled with black and the under surface 

 less uniformly black. 



Male and Female (winter plumage). Black on face and breast 

 absent ; upper surface ashy-brown, edged with whitish ; throat and 

 under parts white. 



" Young. Resemble adults in winter dress, but are spangled with 

 golden-buff on the upper surface ; axillaries black. 



Nest. " Was a hollow, evidently scratched, perfectly round, 

 somewhat deep, and containing a handful of broken, slender twigs 

 and reindeer moss " (Seebohm and Harvie-Biown). The nest was 

 situated on " one of the dry, tussocky ridges intersecting the bog." 

 This was on the tundra in the valley of the lower Petchora, Kassia. 



Eggs. Clutch four. " Intermediate in colour between those 

 of the Lapwing and the Golden Plover, and subject to variations, 

 some being much browner and others more olive; none quite as 

 olive as typical Lapwings' eggs or as buff as typical ones of the 

 Golden Plover, but the blotching is in every respect the same. 

 The underlying spots are equally indistinct; surface spots are 

 generally large, especially at the larger end, but occasionally very 

 small and scattered, and sometimes taking the form of thin 

 streaks. They vary in length from L.9 to 2.2 inches, and in 

 breadth from 1.45 inch to 1.4. Only one brood is reared"- in the 

 year " (Seebohm). 



Breeding Season. Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown found 

 eggs in June and July. . 



Geographical Distribution. Tasmania, Australia in general, 



