122 
The Qut-ensland Naturali-^T. 
April, 1921 
this date, however, serious students of the question are 
inclined to define the word as meaning a regular annual 
movement from one country and dime to entirely different 
ones, one journey being for food and the return for breed- 
ing purposes. If we are to accept this term, then we in 
Australia are almost without triie migrants, and the study 
of the subject would >seem to be a labour lost. But if it can 
he truthfully stated that we are wanting in true migrants, 
we hHve a wonderful field of partial migrants commanding 
attention. , 
After dealing in interesting detail with migration as 
studied in the Northern Hemisphere, Mr. Barker said: — 
'^‘No paper on migratioir'^'would be complete without par- 
ticular mention of the place this continent occupies in the 
subject. Zoologists have divided the earth's surface into 
■seven or eight regions, based on the distinct differences that 
exist ij3 the classification of the birds and mammals in such 
regions. Of late, however, ornithologists arc inclined to a 
preliminary or main division of only two regions — Australia 
and the rest of the world. This is specially applicable in 
the study of our present subject, for, as already mentioned, 
Australia is the one country that possesses no true 
migrants — that is, birds which breed in Australia but move 
off' outside the Wallace line to spend the Southern winter. In 
saying this. 1 am aware that certain individuals, such as the 
Koel. i\Jerops, Roller, and Swallow, do get a little further 
afield ; but the species as a whole do not leave our shores. 
'When, however, we turn to the subject of partial migrants, 
fbe field is a very big one. 
‘‘Out of the twenty-one orders represented in 
Australia, fifteen furnish examples under this head; and 
of the 750 sjjecies represented, more than a third of the 
number are migratory in some degree. Those students 
who are acquainted with the order Charadrifoianes may, 
perhapvS, think I am in error in my statement that we 
have no true migrants, especially when they recall the fact 
that several of the genera of this order yearly make the 
stupendous journey of 8,000-10,000 miles to the Siberian 
tundras, and return, and that others journey to India, 
Japan, and China. Nevertheless, T consider that a bird’s 
country is that in which it breeds, and when it migrates 
to miss the winter of that spot it can only be considered a 
visitor to its summer residence. Therefore, such birds as 
the Sea Curlew (Numenia), Lesser Golden Plover {Chara- 
driufi), and Ringed Dottrell {AegiaUtis) are Asiatic 
birds, and should only appear on our lists as extra-limital. 
“The position of the Charadriformes in relation to the 
function of migration is so curious and interesting that it 
