96 



THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA 



Genus Squatarola. 

 No facial wattle. No spur on wing. Hind toe present. 



The Grey Plover. 



Squatarola helvetica. 



Sub-Arctic regions south to Australia and Tasmania; South Africa 

 and South America in winter. 



General colour above mottled with bars of black and ashy white; 

 lower back dusky brown, with white spots and fringes to the feathers; 

 upper tail coverts and tail feathers white, barred with blackish brown; 

 crown of head more minutely mottled than the back; forehead and 

 eyebrow white, extending down the sides of the neck and forming a 



Golden Plover : 



Australian Museum. 

 Gharadrius Uulvus) dominicu.8. 



patch on side of breast; under surface of body black; abdomen white. 

 The winter plumage has not the black on the face or breast, and the 

 upper surface is ashy brown with narrow whitish edgings to the 

 feathers; base of forehead like the crown; throat and underparts white, 

 and the axillaries black. Total length 10.5 inches, culmen 1.3, wing 8.1, 

 tail 2.9, tarsus 1.8. 



Nest a shallow depression in the moss with a little lining. 

 They nest in the Tundra country in Northern Siberia, and lay 

 four eggs which are of varying shades of stone colour, marked 

 with blackish-brown blotches, mostly on the larger end, those 

 on the pointed end being smaller. The eggs measure about 

 2.10 X 1.40 inch. 



