THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
flowers were growing. I soon caught sight of both male and female, and sat 
down with the intention of watching the latter into the nest. After waiting 
half an hour, during which the bird had wandered uneasily round and round 
me without showing any partiahty for a special locality, I came to the conclusion, 
either that the eggs were hatched, in which case my watching was in vain, 
or that I was so near the nest that the female dare not come on. The male 
had a splendid black belly ; and I decided to take my first good chance of 
a shot at him, and then to devote another half hour to a search for the nest. 
He proved to be, as I expected, the Asiatic Golden Plover, with grey axiUaries. 
My search for the nest was a very short one. I found it in less than five 
minutes, within a dozen yards of my position. It was a mere hollow in the 
ground upon a piece of turfy land, overgrown with moss and lichen; and 
it was lined with broken stalks of reindeer moss. The eggs, four in number, 
were a size smaller than those of the Golden Plover, averaging 1 36/40 X 1 13/40. 
(Eggs of the Grey Plover from the same locality average 2 2/40 X 1 16/40.) 
These eggs were taken on the 13th of July, and were very much incubated. 
“Among the eggs which had been collected for me at Golchecka was 
a second sitting of Asiatic Golden Plovers. Here the bird was extraordinarily 
common. I tried to watch several birds into the nest, but in every case 
without success. They behaved exactly as if they had young. I succeeded 
in catching one young bird in down, and reluctantly came to the conclusion 
that I was too late (on the 20th of July) for eggs. The young in down is 
quite as yellow as that of the Golden Plover.” 
Seebohm then goes on to say that the breeding of this bird in Formosa 
as recorded by Swinhoe is very doubtful, and also (in Geogr. Distr. Charadri., 
p. 100, 1887) casts doubt on the records of Layard, Swinhoe, and Robson. 
La Touche {Ibis 1892, p. 496) says : “ Very abundant at Foochow in 
April and at the beginning of May. It passes again in October, but at that 
season seems to be less common. It winters at Swatow.” 
Stejneger {Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., No. 29, p. 105, 1885) records : “ The 
Asiatic Golden Plover visits Bering Island both on going northward in spring 
and southward again in autumn, but is not known to breed there, although 
suitable localities might easily be found ; nor are they numerous during the 
migration either, but the small flocks remain in fall for a considerable time. 
They arrive about the middle of May, coming again after the 15th of September. 
In 1882 the last ones were observed on the 28th of October.” 
Middendorff {Sibirische Reise, Vol. 11, p. 210, 1851) reports : “ On the 
29th May this bird appeared in full summer plumage on the Tundra on the 
Taimyr River, (74°). Large flocks arrived on the 4th of June. On the 17th 
of June there were eggs in the nest, the usual clutch being four. The males 
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