BANDED STILT. 
Adult male. Head and neck all round and entire back white, lilie the sides of the breast 
and abdomen, under tail-coverts, and inner under wing-coverts ; marginal 
coverts brown, edged with white ; upper wing-coverts and scapulars black ; 
small coverts on outer edge of wing brown ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts and 
quills dark brown, the five outer primaries paler brown on the inner webs, the 
remainder white on the inner webs ; secondaries white except two of the inner 
ones which have a brown spot on the outer web, the long innermost secondaries 
black like the scapulars ; tail, middle feathers pale grey, outer feathers grey on 
outer webs, white on inner ones ; breast chestnut, the feathers of which have 
white bases followed by blackish and very broadly tipped with chestnut, so that 
the white of the fore-neck and the chestnut on the breast is divided by a narrow- 
blackish line, the feathers on the middle of the abdomen dark brown, some of which 
are suffused with chestnut ; bill black ; iris dark brown ; tarsi and feet yellow. 
Total length 405 mm. ; culmen 69, wing 193, tail 80, tarsus 88. 
Adult female. Similar to the male. 
Young male (bird of the year). Differs from the adult in the entire absence of the chestnut, 
or dark pattern, on the breast and middle of the abdomen, these parts being 
white like the rest of the under-surface ; upper wing-coverts very narrowly edged 
with white. 
The first stage of advance towards the breeding-plumage is shown in specimens 
which have the chestnut pattern on the breast and the dark patch on the middle 
of the abdomen just faintly outlined on the white under-surface, while others 
demonstrate more clearly the colour of these parts, which can be seen by the 
chestnut, more especially on the sides of the breast, which is still much 
intermixed with white. 
Other specimens also show the advance of the chestnut and the dark portion on 
the middle of the abdomen : the white, so prevalent in the first one mentioned 
above, is fast disappearing and the next stage appears to be the fully adult. 
Nest. A rough construction placed in a low salt bush. 
Eggs. “ Clutch four, the ground-colour varies from an olive brown to creamy brown 
irregularly spotted and blotched with black, in shape oval but slightly pointed ” 
(Ramsay). Axis 44-48 ; diameter 29-33. 
Captain S. A. White, of South Australia, says : “ This bird makes its 
appearance on the Adelaide plains during the winter months, remaining in 
small colonies to breed. The nest is a rough construction placed generally 
in a low salt bush.” 
Mr. Charles Belcher writes : “ This species visits Southern Victoria only 
in seasons when there is abundance of water. It was seen a few times in the 
Geelong District. 
“ In certain favourable locahties it may be seen in small numbers in 
company with other waterfowl wading about in the mud at the mouths of 
estuaries, in swamps and lagoons. It does not visit us [Tasmania] imtil near 
the end of the year, and again departs, after a short stay of a few months, for 
the interior of the mainland. As may be expected from the nature of its 
haunts, its food consists of all manner of moUuscs and insects gathered in 
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