AVOCET 
89 
Connewarre ; Mr. Mulder has also noted them there 
occasionally ; and there are three birds, probably 
obtained locally, in the Geelong Museum, but without 
data. The Avocet is clearly distinguished from all 
other large Waders by its upturned bill and red 
head and neck. It is an inland-breeding species. 
SEA-CURLEW 
Numenius cyanopus 
The Sea-curlew is at once the largest and, by reason 
of its amazingly long decurved bill, the most con- 
spicuous of those birds which I have designated as 
Asiatic migrant Waders. Salt-marshes or mud-flats 
in the immediate vicinity of the sea, or the ocean 
coast itself, are the haunt of the Curlew, which feeds 
by preference on the small burrowing crabs to be 
found in great numbers at ebb tide. These it extracts 
with the long delicate bill so finely adapted by nature 
to the purpose. Its flight is comparatively slow and 
heavy for a Wader ; while on the wing it utters a 
high, clear, almost wailing call. I have seen small 
companies of Sea-curlew (ten or twelve is an average 
flock) at different points on the reefs west of Barwon 
Heads, and as far west as Airey's Inlet, but its favourite 
feeding-ground in the district is the mangrove-flats 
to the south-east of Lake Connewarre towards Barwon 
Heads. In lesser numbers it may be observed at 
Stingaree Bay. 
The migrations of the Sea-curlew are still enveloped 
