THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Nest, A depression by the shore. 
Eggs. Clutch, two ; ground-colour pale greenish, marked all over with dark brown to 
purphsh-black markings and fewer ones of lavender, some of the markings being 
dots and Knes ; axis 28.5 to 32 mm., diameter 23 to 24. 
Breeding-season. August to October (Mellor) ; October to January (Ramsay). 
Captain S. A. White, of South Australia, sends me the following : “ There 
is not a beach on the coast of Australia, or the shore of an inland lake, which 
I have visited but I have found this bird. I do not think there is a bird living 
that can so well mimic the death agonies as this one, when they have a nest. 
They will often allow you to almost put your hand upon them in their anxiety 
to lure you away from their young or eggs. They lay two to three eggs on 
the bare shingle or sand.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby found them common at Venus Bay and the Gulf of 
St. Vincent in February, 1910. Some nested so near the sea that the extra 
high waves washed the newly hatched young further up the beach. 
Mr. J. W. Mellor records : “ This bird is common on all the sea beaches 
in South Australia, and can often be seen running with sharp little strides 
along the edge of the water and as the waves come in they will fly a few paces 
out of their way and then run on again and repeat the performance ; they 
generally go in little lots of eight or ten, and pair off in the spring, breeding 
in August, September and October. The eggs are placed in the shingle of 
sand and shells. In this situation they are hard to find as the spots on the 
egg are so like the little pieces of sea-shell and stones, that the eye cannot 
pick them out again if once taken off the spot where they lay. The clutch 
is two to three but more often than not the former. The birds will get off 
the eggs at the shghtest sense of the approach of a stranger, and trust to the 
protective coloration to save them from detection ; but the bird as a double 
precaution will feign a broken wing or leg and take the naturalist further 
away from the spot if it thinks that he is getting too near the nest. While at 
Stansbury in April, 1911, I saw great numbers of these birds in flocks on the 
open sand and mud flats when the tide was out, feeding on small aquatic 
insects, etc. The majority were in dull plumage, without the rufous cap, and 
appeared almost another species, but one could see upon securing specimens, 
which I did, that the rufous coloration and other markings of ruficapilla were 
there in very indistinct form as if beneath the surface ; they were probably 
immature birds of last season’s hatching, and had collected for company 
during the winter months ; they were very fat when skinning and stuffing 
them. I have also met them on Kangaroo Island, Eyre Peninsula. 
“ The eggs were plentiful about Port Germein and Port Pirie, especially 
on the sandy grassed flats just back from the sea, where the birds were very 
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