86 
reeds, and no amount of shouting or stone-throwing, and in 
some cases of stamping even on the rushes, sufficed to flush 
them. It was only by setting fire to the almost impenetrable 
cover that I succeeded in getting a shot. At Topare tank they 
were constantly on the wing, and very noisy, and I had ample 
opportunity of observing their animated movements, although I 
could not get a shot at them. I found the food of the specimens 
I procured at various times to consist of small flies and minute 
insects." 
5. LOBIVANELLUS LOBATUS (Latham), Spur-winged Plover. 
This species furnishes an illustration as regards Tasmania of 
internal migration or "exodus" in the southern parts of Australia. 
Though recorded as inhabiting the island many years ago, it 
was a rare bird until the " eighties." After the great drought on 
the continent, 1888, it was observed here and there in the mid- 
lands, the great Plover district of Tasmania. It gradually 
increased about Ross and Tunbridge, where the flat lands, salt- 
pans, marshes, and undulating open sheep-runs provided it with 
a suitable home. It is now about as numerous as the Black- 
breasted Plover, for it is seldom shot, owing to its wariness and 
the poor quality of its flesh, and flocks of fifty may be met 
with after the breeding season when the young have " packed." 
In 1892 a pair appeared on my estate at Cullenswood, on the 
Break-o'-day Plateau, where the species had never been seen 
before. It had evidently begun to migrate outwards from the 
midlands. In 1895 it had thoroughly established itself, having 
taken up its quarters about a large lagoon, where it bred every 
year, and is now abundant in the district. The mysterious art 
of " protective resemblance " appears to be connected with the 
economy of this species and the Black-breasted Plov^er, and is 
illustrated in the remarkable variation in the colour of their eggs. 
If nests are found situated on ground or about vegetation of 
varied colour the eggs will be found in sundry instances to 
correspond in a remarkable manner with the coloration of their 
environment. Two or three seasons ago I visited, in company 
with my son, Mr. R. W. Legge, who is a keen observer, several 
nests of these species, situated in and about the lagoon above- 
mentioned, which was then in a dry state. The ground colour 
of the eggs varied in each, and exactly resembled the material 
round the nests. It was most observable in the case of a 
" Spurwing's " nest formed on some dry, yellowish rushes and 
dead grass, and in which the eggs were of the exact murky 
stone-colour of the dead vegetation. Two nests of the Black- 
breasted Plover illustrated the same peculiarity in a very marked 
manner. 
The egg shown in Campbell's " Nests and Eggs " is remark- 
ably green, and was probably taken from a nest situated near 
green herbage. 
