THE BIRDS OE AUSTRALIA. 
plovers, one making an overhead attack and the others underneath. I have 
seen them attacking the Circus gouldi and beating him off. On September 
19th, 1909, I found a nest containing three eggs.” 
Mr. Charles Belcher records : “ This bird is a lover of swampy localities 
and is well distributed over Victoria. To a limited extent it is migratory, 
and in autumn may be found in large flocks. The birds pair off long before 
the winter months. I have found eggs in July, but most are laid in August 
and September. The Spur-wing Plover flies long distances by night. At times 
I have heard them high up over Central Melbourne. The cry is much louder 
and harsher than that of the Black-breasted Plover, and I do not think the 
latter bird flies about so much at night. The Spur-wing Plover lays three 
eggs, sometimes four ; the nest is a shallow depression on land rising out 
of a swamp or, quite as frequently, in an open paddock. I do not know any 
part of Victoria where the species may not be found. It is peculiarly partial 
to river estuaries and lagoons near the sea.” 
Dr. G. Horne, of Victoria, says : “I watched these birds on Kangaroo 
Island for a long afternoon. Four of them were going methodically over a 
fallow paddock picking up insects. They did not seem to post a sentinel but 
no passer by came within three hundred yards without the loud warning cry 
being given and taken up by its mates. One of our party approaching where 
I suppose a nest was hidden, had his hat struck by the wing-spur in a swift 
downward rush that the bird made at the intruder. Certainly the whirr with 
which it sweeps by makes one feel that it is not an adversary to be trifled 
with. It seems to be watchful by night as well as day, for at Lancefield during 
some military manoeuvres I repeatedly noticed it signalling the movements 
of squads along a road near which it had stationed itself. 
“ Our pair we have kept for nearly four years and specially on moon- 
light nights do they give their shrill warning of the least disturbance. Now 
for the first time they are preparing to nest and have fashioned a shallow hole 
from wliich they have carefully removed all the stones and lined it 
with twigs. 
“ They are very savage and attack with loud cries anyone entering the 
little garden in which they run pinioned.” 
Miss Fletcher of Tasmania gives me the following account : “ These 
birds are ver}'^ plentiful around the marshy lands of the Cleveland district 
where they found abundant food. From thence they wander to the adjacent 
rises or paddocks, and are keen hunters after the destructive under- 
ground grass-grub. They feed a great part of the night and also in the 
early morning. 
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