132 BIRDS OF TASMANIA. 



yards as though blown by a strong breeze no satisfactory explana- 

 tion for which is forthcoming from observation. From the 

 intentness with which the parties in the pools were fishing, sub* 

 stantial results must have been crowning their efforts. Many were 

 engaged in turning over dead ' sea-urchins ' and scraps of sea- 

 weed scattered about. Turning my glasses inshore, my attention 

 was arrested by the suspicious movements of one of these birds; 

 it ran down the beach to a pool, pottered round for some time as 

 though unable to decide on its next movements, then ran slowly 

 up the beach, dodging among the piled-up heaps of kelp, until at 

 last it arrived at a spot a little distance above high water mark, 

 then, apparently satisfied that the coast was clear, squatted on 

 the sand. After keeping the spot under observation for some little 

 time, I walked slowly up to where the bird appeared to have 

 stopped it, of course, had fled at my first movement but could 

 find no semblance of a nest. After searching round for some little 

 time I slowly retraced my steps, examining carefully every foot of 

 the ground ; not many yards had been traversed before I suddenly 

 espied, right at my feet, a pair of the prettily marked eggs of this 

 species lying on a shallow depression in the bare sand. The nesting 

 hollow was not more than the size of a crown piece, and quite 

 destitute of lining save for a few broken scraps of grass-roots lying 

 against one side. The nest was some three or four yards above 

 high water mark. Subsequently I watched another bird sneak 

 above high water mark, come to a standstill, and squat down. 

 But owing to its distance from where I lay concealed, and the 

 similarity of the surroundings, I was unable to locate the exact 

 spot." 



BLACK-FRONTED DOTTREL 



(Mgialitis melanops, Vieill.) 



Male. Forehead, a stripe commencing at the eye, passing over 

 the ear coverts and round the back of the neck, and a broad band 

 across the chest extending a short distance downwards black; a 

 stripe of white passes over each eye and continues round the 

 back of iihe neck, separating the black band from the crown ; 

 crown, back, and middle of the wings brown; shoulders deep 

 chestnut; tips of greater wing coverts white, forming an obscure 

 band across the wing; primaries black; whole of the under surface, 

 save for the black band, white; two middle tail feathers brown, 

 tipped with black; next three on each side white at the base, 

 passing into blackish-brown tipped with white ; remainder 

 entirely white; bill orange, tipped with black. Dimensions in 

 mm. : Length, 164; bill, 15; wing, 106; tail, 56; tarsus, 25. 



Female. Similar to male. 



Nest. Merely a slight hollow in a river bed or on a s#ndy ridge. 



Eggs. Clutch three; pyriform in shape; texture fine; surface 

 without gloss; colour light stone, marked all ever with fine spots 



