LOIUVANKLLUS PERSONATUS (Gould.) 



MASKED PLOVER. (Jkni-s : Lomvankllus. 



rill I IS Plover is entirely tropical in its habitat, never having boon found further south than Cape 

 J- N ork, or, perhaps, (Rockingham Hay. Therefore, it and its near congener, the Wattled Plover, 

 share no localities in common. 



The 8oiihrn/>ict " Masked " w as bestowed on this species from the fact that it possesses a hood 

 or membranous sheath of the purest gamboge-yellow, which, in life, resembles tbe petals of a rose. Its 

 purpose is to lie close over the feathers and protect tbem when the beak is plunged into tbe sand in 

 search of food. 



This Masked Plover is a more beautifully formed bird than the Wattled Plover. The body 

 is the same size, but the legs are longer and the wattles round the eye more fully developed. It is 

 very plentiful about ('ape York and the Gulf of Carpentaria, where it inhabits the swamps, the banks 

 of lakes, and open spots among the mangrove stretches. While on the sea shore its food consists of 

 water insects and small shellfish, but when inland it readily adapts itself to the insect food to be found 

 there. It associates in small families, and so frequently utters a cry not unlike tbe name bestowed 

 on it by the natives (Al-ga-ra-ra) that it may be regarded as rather a noisy bird. About Breaker 

 Inlet it frequents the sand banks in pairs, and is very shy. 



The breeding season lasts from August to September, when two or three eggs are laid in a 

 hollow on the bare ground, quite on the edge of a flat, near a marsh. They are "a dull olive-yellow 

 colour, dashed all over with spots and markings of blackish-brown and dark olive-brown, particularly at 

 the larger end." Measurements — I : , ! inch long by 1 8 / 10 inch broad, and it is slightly pointed at the 

 smaller end. 



Crown of the head and occiput, jet black; sides of the face, back of the neck, rump, and all 

 under surfaces, pure white ; back and scapularies, light brownish-grey ; wing coverts, grey ; primaries, 

 dee]) black : secondaries, white at the base on their inner webs, cinnamon-grey on their outer webs, and 

 largely tipped with black ; tail, white at the base, largely tipped with black, the extreme ends of the 

 feathers being cinnamon-grey, particularly the two centre ones; irides, primrose-yellow; wattles, lemon- 

 yellow; bill, lemon-yellow at the base, black at the tip; legs and feet, carmine-red; the scales in front, 

 blackish-fjreen. 



Total length, 12 inches. {Gould.) 



Habitats: Derby, North-West Australia, Port Darwin and Port Essington, Gulf of Carpentaria, 

 Cape York, Rockingham Bay. {Ramsay.) 



