PLATE 



iEGIALITES NIGRIFRONS (<**>.) 



BLACK-FRONTED DOTTREL. Genus: ^gialites. 



WHEN Gould wrote of this bird, knowledge of its habits was so limited that he believed 

 himself correct in stating that the temperate latitudes were so much its true home that it 

 was never found outside them. Of late years, naturalists have found this generalisation too sweeping. 

 The Black-fronted Dottrel is certainly found most abundantly in medium latitudes, and it is not 

 known in Tasmania ; not the less, though, is it found in such tropical localities as Derby (N.W.A.). 

 As a matter of fact, it is universally distributed over the Continent, affecting the shores of fresh 

 water, streams, and lakes in the interior, rather than the boisterous sea-coast. 



It is a delicate and beautiful little bird, whose every attitude speaks of quickness and speed, 

 from the long, slender tarsi, to the long and pointed primaries crossing over the tail. Of all the 

 Dottrels, this one is the tamest, for it will allow one to approach near enough to observe the 

 brilliant scarlet ring that surrounds the eve, and even when induced to take flio-ht will alio-ht a«-ain 

 within a very short distance. Occasionally, as if for amusement, they will take lofty flight, wheeling 

 about for some time, and then descending to the earth like stones. 



The breeding season lasts through October and November, when a clutch of from two to 

 three eggs is laid. No nest is deemed necessary, the eggs being deposited on the ground near 

 running water ; their colour so nearly approaches the earth on which they are placed that it is not an 

 easy matter to detect them. Their shape is like other Dottrels' eggs ; that is, considerably pointed 

 at the smaller end: measurement, 1 3-1 Gin. long, by lin broad; "of a pale stone, or dirty white 

 color, very numerously, but minutely speckled with brown." ((rould.) 



The sexes are alike in plumage, but there are some slight differences in size. 



The male has a black forehead, running up into a point on the head ; a black line from 

 under the eyes meets a broader band under the shoulders, which forms a broad, pointed semi-circular 

 band on the chest, dividing the white throat from the white inner-surfaces, back of the head, back, 

 and tertiaries, brown ; primaries, black ; scapularies, chestnut, which tint appears again on the tail ; 

 throat, abdomen, and under-tail coverts, white ; two middle tail-feathers, brown at base, and black at 

 tip ; the next three on each side white at the base, and merging into blackish-brown, and largely 

 tipped with white ; the remainder entirely white ; bill, orange at base, and black at tip : feet, 

 sometimes orange, sometimes pale flesh-color ; irides, dark brown ; eyelash, bright red. 



" The young have a crescentic mark of a lighter colour on the feathers of the upper surface, 

 and have the colouring of the plumage and soft parts less brilliantly and well-defined than in the 

 adults." (Gould). 



Habitats : Derby (N.W.A.), Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, Dawson 

 River, G.B., Richmond and Clarence River Districts, New South Wales, Victoria and South 

 Australia, Interior, West and South-west Australia. 



GENUS .EGIALOPHILUS (Gould). 



TIIHE species sEgialites cantianus of Europe and the JE. ruftcapillus of Australia have been chosen by 

 J- Gould to form a new genus, not from any specific characteristic, but "in accordance with the spirit 

 of minute subdivision which now pervades all branches of natural science." and because they are smaller 

 in size than other Plovers. 



