THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Mr. Frank Littler * writes : “ Shooting begins 1st February, ends 30th June. 
This fine bird mostly confines itself to open, swampy localities bordered by 
grassy uplands. Except during the immediate breeding season, it moves in 
flocks, which vary greatly in size . . . The note of the Spur-winged Plover 
is a harsh cry, which grows very loud and discordant when the bird is alarmed. 
The ordinary cry is uttered when on the wing. It moves from one feeding 
ground to another very often under cover of darkness. On moonhght nights 
I have, on many occasions, heard flocks passing over Launceston, calling loudly 
as they flew. Sometimes one flock can be heard caUing to another, which 
answers in quite a different key. I do not know if they have any special time 
for moving ; I have heard them at aU times from 9 p.m. until midnight. This 
plover is a very courageous bird when there are young or eggs to be defended. 
Although naturally very shy, it becomes bold and daring in the extreme 
when real or imaginary danger threatens. In addition to feigning lame or 
wounded, and doing aU in its power to lure the intruder away from its nest, 
it will boldly attack sheep-dogs and predacious birds. Not only does it 
fly screaming round them, but right into their faces to turn them from its 
nest. It does not hesitate to attack man should occasion arise. Its food 
consists of insect and the like gathered from off the ground of its haunts.” 
Leggef reports: “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 in the continent, 1888, it was 
observed here and there in the midlands, 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 evidentlj’^ 
begun to migrate outwards from the midlands. In 1895 it had thoroughly 
estabhshed itself, having taken up its quarters about a large lagoon, where 
it bred every year, and is now abundant in the district.” 
In the specimens I have examined I find the males to have the first three 
primaries subequal, the first probably the longest, while females have the 
second and third equal and longest, the first equal to the fourth. 
This bird was first described by Latham from the Wathng Drawings. 
He chose for its name Tringa lobata, and it has been commonly known as 
* Handb. Birds Tasm., p. 125, 1910, t Vol. I., p. 86, 1902. 
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