EASTERN GREY PLOVER. 
Eggs. “ Ground colour yellowish -grey to brownish-yellow, covered with dark brown 
spots. Axis 48 to 56 mm. ; diameter 36 in.” (Middendorff.) 
Breeding-season. June and July (Middendorff). 
Mr, J. P. Rogers, writing from Derby, North-west Australia, says : “ These 
are the wariest birds here and are very hard to kill. At times they are seen in 
small flocks of from ten to twelve, but more often in ones or twos. Sometimes 
they are alone, at others in company with 0. geo^royi and Pisobia ruficoUis. 
“ When I came here in December of 1910, these birds were not numerous, 
often a single bird would be seen with 0. geo^royi or some other wader and 
sometimes alone. They were very wild and were seldom seen away from the 
shore. At liigh tide they used to go into the bare ground outside the 
mangroves, but I never saw them feeding on the grassy flats like the 
Golden Plover.” 
At Point Torment, north of Derby, he found them “ on the 22nd February,. 
1911, seen in small flocks up to a dozen in number but very wild. From the 
7th to 27th March — many single birds, and small flocks seen. From the 
28th March to the 10th April they were less plentiful, and from the 12th to 
the .31st April only a few odd ones were noticed.” 
The same naturalist, from Melville Island, Northern Territory, reports 
that these birds were there from November 5th, 1911, to February, 1912. 
Mr. Tom Carter sends me the following : “A regular summer visitor 
about the North-west Cape, arriving about the 21st of September. They are 
very wary birds and usually feed close to the edge of the sea in pairs or singly. 
I found it common at Albany, South-west Australia, in March,” 
Middendorff, who was the first man to find this bird breeding, gives a 
detailed account of it and its eggs, and also figures one of the latter {Sihirische 
ReisBy Vol. II., p. 290 (=209), 1851. He says that “ it breeds in the Byrranga 
Mountains (74° N.) and on the Boganida River (71° N.), but not as commbnly 
as the Golden Plover. Before the 25th of May no birds were seen on the 
Boganida. On the 26th of June the female was sitting on four eggs, on her 
nest which was a depression in the earth, lined with dry leaves and lichen. 
“In their shape the eggs of Char, squatarola correspond with those of 
Van. cristatus and Char, morinellus, but are larger. The average size being 
54 mm. long by 36 wide. The largest were 56 mm. long and the smallest 48. 
“ The colouring offers no distinctive characteristics. The ground colour 
is yeUowish-grey to brownish-yellow covered with dark brown spots. 
“ The females which I saw had, in full summer plumage, an irregular 
white stripe, which stretched along the median line over the black of the 
breast and belly, which distinguished them from the males. 
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