THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 169 



somewhat surprised to see quite a number of fine specimens of 

 this very useful bird, and ahhough in such a wild part of the 

 colony the birds did not appear to be particularly shy. To 

 those of us who have travelled in the Victorian bush the singular 

 cry of this plover is too well known to need description here. 

 When full grown a good male specimen, with head erect, will 

 measure nearly two feet in height, the female being, if anything, 

 smaller in size, and, as Mr. Gould remarks, " the markings and 

 general appearance of the two sexes are so similar that is scarcely 

 possible to distinguish the male from the female without the aid 

 of dissection." For a popular description of this bird, it will 

 suffice to say that the colour is brownish-white ; belly and throat 

 white ; back a light brown with darker brown markings, often 

 termed speckled ; tail with barred markings, not unlike that of 

 some hawks; legs long and feet leaden grey; eyes prominent. 

 The young, two in number, are funny speckled chicks ; eggs, two, 

 deposited on the bare ground. 



The specimen exhibited here this evening will furnish a good 

 idea of the average bird, the young chicks having been kindly 

 lent by Mr. A. Coles ; eggs, from the collection now at the 

 Museum of Economic Entomology, 



This bird subsists solely upon insects, and the stomach is 

 generally found crammed with either crickets, grasshoppers, or 

 other pests. 



According to Mr. A. J. Campbell the eggs are deposited from 

 August to January. 



The Southern Stone Plover, being so useful a bird, should be 

 permanently protected, and, as in the case of other insect-eating 

 birds, it should be made a punishable offence to either kill or 

 expose them for sale. 



This bird, when bringing up its young, resorts to somewhat 

 similar tactics as those adopted by the English Partridge, viz., 

 feigning to be wounded, and lying close amongst tussocks, so as 

 to attract as little notice as possible. 



In Mr. Campbell's very useful book on " Oology of Australian 

 Birds" he mentions this plover as being found all over Australia, 

 excepting in West, but Gould, in his " Handbook," vol. ii., page 211, 

 mentions having had many specimens from Swan River. Mr. 

 Gould also mentions the probability of a northern form of this 

 species which has longer tarsi and shorter wings, but as I have 

 not seen the latter bird myself I have not ventured an opinion 

 on the matter. 



The Stone Plover is often confounded by the colonists with 

 the Australian Curlew, a bird with which, however, it has no 

 affinity, and certainly little or no resemblance. 



The specimen here exhibited is from the Wimmera district of 

 Victoria. 



