2 
an elevation of nearly 7000 feet; and Mr. Buchanan informs me that during his ascent of Mount 
Egmont, in company with Messrs. Richmond and Hursthouse, he discovered a pair of these birds on 
the slope of the cone at an elevation of at least 6000 feet. Mr. Travers assures me that he met with 
it in small flocks on the Spencer ranges, in the Provincial district of Nelson, at an elevation above 
the sea of fully 8000 feet ! 
It is more plentiful on the mud-flats and sand-banks of the Kaipara basin and Manukau harbour 
than in any other part of the colony. It is gregarious in its habits, associating in small flocks, which 
fly together from one feeding-place to another and then, scattering themselves, mingle freely with the 
Godwit and other Waders frequenting the same localities. The young birds remain with their 
parents till the breeding-season comes round again. 
It subsists chiefly on small crustaceans, mollusca, and sand-hoppers, and pursues its prey on foot. 
It has a common habit of running about on the dry sand-drift, among the tauhinu bushes, near the 
sea-shore, in pursuit of insects of various kinds. On a close inspection the little footprints may be 
observed in the loose sand running in lines in all directions. When disturbed it rises in the air with 
a rapid vibration of its wings, and flies in a circle, with an occasional sailing movement, when the 
wings are motionless and assume the form of a how. 
An excellent illustration of this bird (in full summer plumage) was given in Gray’s ‘ Birds of 
New Zealand,’ forming part of the ‘ Voyage of the Erebus and Terror.’ 
The example figured in the accompanying Plate, which is likewise in summer garb, was obtained 
on the ocean-beach at Port Chalmers, where this Dottrel is comparatively rare. 
Major Mair writes to me that at Te Arikiroa, a bay in Rotorua lake, he observed numbers of 
these birds running about among the warm springs and along the sulphur-crusted pans, where they 
appeared to be catching insects. 
On the nesting-habits of this species Mr. Potts writes : — “ In the breeding-season I have noticed 
it at such a considerable altitude as the summit of Dog range, in the Ashburton district. The nest 
is difficult to find ; it is so slight an affair that it easily escapes observation — merely a few stems of 
grass twisted into a slight hollow in the ground, so loosely put together that it is not easy to pick it 
up and yet preserve its form. The eggs, three in number, just fill the nest ; they are of a delicate 
soft brown, suffused with dark brown (almost black) marks, somewhat oval in shape, I inch 9 lines in 
length, with a breadth of I inch 3 lines. The young run with speed almost as soon as hatched, and 
conceal themselves with much skill. I have observed eggs and young in the months of October and 
November. I know of one spot where it has bred for several years in close proximity with the 
nests of the Stilt-Plover, the Oyster-catcher, and the Banded Dottrel.” 
There is a good series of eggs in the Canterbury Museum : in some examples the spots and 
markings are blotched, in others they are rounded and distinct, while in some they are more or less 
confluent towards the larger end. In size they average 1-8 inches in length by 1-2 in breadth. 
The same collection contains an egg belonging undoubtedly to the Black-fronted Tern {Sterna 
antarctica), which was taken by Mr. Donald Potts from a nest of this Dottrel near the banks of the 
Rangitata. This is a singular coincidence, because the two birds have nothing in common. In their 
nesting-habits they are entirely dissimilar, the one being gregarious and the other solitary. 
Mr. Robson writes to me that he took from the ovary of a bird he had shot an egg just ready for 
extrusion, and that “ it was ovoido-conical in shape and of a very delicate shade of light greenish blue 
without spots of any kind.” 
