Oedek CHARADRTIFOBMES.l 



[Family CHAKADRIIDvE. 



CHARADRIUS DOMINICTJS. 



(EASTERN GOLDEN-PLOVER.) 



Charadrius fulvus, G-melin; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 6. 

 Charadrius dominicus, P. L. S. Miiller, Syst. Nat. Anhang, p. 116 (1776). 



Forming one of the Tonga Archipelago, and about 150 miles from Faunalai, in the Vavau group, 

 is the remarkable, volcanic island of Nuia-Foou, situated in about 15° South latitude. It is very 

 small, being only about twenty miles in circumference, but it is quite unique in its way. Its 

 centre consists of a basin of brackish water, three miles across, presumably an ancient crater, and 

 of such depth in the middle that it has never been fathomed. There are no fishes of any kind in 

 its waters, and it does not appear to have any communication with the sea. The surface of this 

 inland lake, on which there are three beautiful wooded islets, is generally perfectly tranquil, whilst 

 the sea outside the rim or circle of land, on which the people live, beats in roaring billows upon the 

 outlying reefs. On this volcanic margin several hundreds of natives reside and, in spite of its 

 arid and almost waterless character, cannot be induced to leave the home of their fathers. It is 

 among the black sand-dunes around this lake, as already stated (p. 32), that the curious ground- 

 bird, the Malau (Megapodius pritchardi) forms its deep burrow and deposits its solitary egg, 

 leaving it to be hatched out by the natural heat of the ground. 



In a small consignment of birds (in formalin) received from Mr. W. B. Hamilton, just before 

 he left the Island, there was a fine specimen of this almost cosmopolitan Plover. It is said to 

 have become a permanent resident in some parts of the Tonga group. 



I have a specimen in my collection, received from Mr. Wilson, junior, of Bulls. In sending 

 it, he wrote that he had never seen the bird before, but was told by others that a few stray ones 

 generally frequent the Kangitikei beach, about the end of October, every year. 



Captain Hutton writes * : 



In New Zealand the bird is rare, having been only recorded a few times in the North Island, while for the 

 first time in history it made its appearance in the South Island last summer (1900). Mr. W. W. Smith says 

 that he has seen a good many in the Ashburton Eiver bed, the first he had noticed for eighteen years. There 

 is a specimen in the Canterbury Museum, which was shot at Lake Ellesmere in November, 1900 ; and I saw 

 another specimen which had been shot at the Bluff, in Southland. Two specimens shot near Auckland early 

 in December, 1880, were in winter plumage, but showing signs of being about to put on their summer dress. 

 The specimen in the Canterbury Museum is in winter plumage, as also is the one shot at the Bluff; and Mr. 

 Smith says that the plumage of the birds in the Ashburton Eiver bed varied but slightly. But Sir W. Buller 

 has received a specimen from Mr. C. H. Kobson which had partially assumed the summer plumage. Mr. 

 Kobson also found a pair breeding at Portland Island on the 9th January, and, as he says that the birds 

 undergo little or no change of plumage from winter to summer (which is a mistake), I presume that the birds 

 he saw were also in the winter or non-breeding plumage. This is very remarkable, for with introduced 

 European birds, such as the Starling, Linnet, and Eedpole, the change of plumage goes with the breeding-season, 

 as it did in Europe ; on coming into the Southern Hemisphere, they have changed together. 



A year later (April 9th, 1901) Captain Hutton wrote to me : " There have been a good many 

 Spotted Plover (O. dominicus=C. fulvus) in the South Island this year. They do not seem to 

 have been recorded before, and none of the taxidermists of the South Island know them." And, 

 ao-ain, on April 11th, 1902 : " Last month Mr. Edgar Stead shot a Golden Plover at Lake 

 Ellesmere in the breeding plumage— the first I have seen. It is interesting to see this bird 

 getting its spring plumage here in the autumn before it starts north." 



* Trans. N. Z. Inst., vol. xxxiii., p. 256. 



