THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
“ During the day-time they are mostly found in flocks of from five to 
fifty in number, perhaps crowded together on the edges of a lagoon, basking 
in the sun, or on remarkably hot days under the shade of some tree. Night 
is the Plovers’ time for feeding ; then they become remarkably noisy, and 
their loud creaking choruses, sometimes carried on by two or three individuals, 
are more often heard. A sudden stop puts an end to the performance, when 
aU is again quiet, and nothing heard save a melancholy call note as they 
follow one another in twos and threes to some distant part of the fields. They 
are seldom heard in the day-time, except when disturbed. 
“ The Spur-winged Plover breeds during September and the two following 
months, in some localities a month earlier or later. The eggs, which are four 
in number, are placed with the thin ends inwards, and laid upon the ground 
by the side of some tuft of grass or rushes, in a slight hollow made for their 
reception, with occasionally a few blades of grass placed under and around 
them, but as often as not without any sign of a nest.”* 
Captain S. A. White writes from South Australia : “ This bird seems 
to adapt itself to almost any surrounding, for they are found in the plains 
of our dry interior, where they seem to thrive as well as they do on the rich 
flats and swamps of the Reed-beds. Last year a bird selected a small tuft 
18 inches across, situated in a swamp on my property. When the bird was 
disturbed from its nest, she slipped off quietly into the water and paddled 
off among the rushes. A slight depression is generally selected to lay in, 
without any nest. When the young are hatched, they are so like their 
surroundings that it is very difficult to detect them.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby reports it “ Very common, where ever I have been 
on the Murray River. Small flocks occur on the creeks with permanent 
water on the eastern slopes of the Adelaide Hills. I have also shot them near 
Saddleworth, South Australia. I have a clutch of eggs from Snug Cove, 
North Kangaroo Island.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor says : “A few were seen on one island [off South 
Australia] and a nest with 4 eggs was found ; the nest was an impression in 
the sand close to the shore, and in no way concealed, but the spotting and 
colour of the eggs exactly fitted in with the surrounding place and made 
them almost indistinguishable. The birds were very wary and were not to 
be seen about, although the eggs were warm ... It was not long, 
however, before we heard their piping call some distance away on an island, 
as if calling our attention awa}^ from the nest. On another island several 
young ones were seen that had not more than just hatched out.” 
* Ramsay, Ihia 1867, p. 419. 
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