THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
whitish on the inner webs, shaft of outer primary white ; secondary-quills greyish- 
brown broadly tipped with white, becoming less white on the inner ones, the long 
innermost secondaries like the back ; rump and upper tail-coverts ash-grey ; the 
long upper tail-coverts barred with buff, and dark brown on the margins of the 
feathers ; tail-feathers ashy-grey becoming hghter on the outermost ones ; the eye 
is encircled by a ring of short white feathers ; sides of face, sides of neck, throat 
and breast dull white streaked with dusky brown ; abdomen and under tail-coverts 
white hke the axillaries and under wing-coverts, the small marginal-coverts on 
the under-wing brown, tipped with white ; bill black, base olive-brown ; iris 
brown ; feet, tarsus, and lower tibia dull yellow. Total length 290 mm. ; cuhnen 
50, wing 136, tail 57, tarsus 30. 
Adult female, in summer-plumage. Similar to the adult male but larger. 
Adult, in winter -plumage. Differs from the adult in summer-plumage in being greyer and 
less bronzy above. 
Im.mature. Differs from the adult in having the base of the bill yellowish instead of 
brown, the head and hind-neck grey with scarcely any perceptible dark shaft- 
streaks ; the dark markings on the back less pronounced, the rump paler grey, 
and the sides of face, throat and fore-neck more faintly streaked. 
Nestling, in down. Upper-surface greyish-buff ; a broad black longitudinal line along 
the middle of the back ; a narrow black streak from the fore-head over the middle 
of the crown on to the hind-neck ; loral streak and a narrow line behind the eye 
also black : entire under-parts creamy-white. 
Young, partly fledged. The feathers on the sides of the breast, back, scapulars, and 
tail grey tinged with sandy-buff, and black shaft-hnes ; the crown of the head 
similar but more minutely marked ; fore-head whitish ; loral streak black ; lesser 
median, and greater upper wing-coverts blackish Hire the primary-coverts and 
quills ; the greater coverts broadly tipped with white ; hind-neck, throat, and fore- 
neck covered with grey down ; abdomen white, down still adhering to the feathers 
of the abdomen, under tall-coverts, and tail. 
Nest. A depression in the grass (Pallas). 
Eggs. Clutch, four ; surface glossy ; ground-colour pale stone, sparingly covered all over, 
but more at the larger end, with medium-sized blotches of dark purplish-red and 
underlying ones of lavender ; axis 35-36.5 mm., diameter 26-27. “ Clutch four ; 
ground colour, ohve yellow, spotted with brown. Weight about 3| drachams.” 
(Pallas.) 
Breeding-season. June and July (Siberia). 
Mr. J. P. Rogers found this bird rare about Derby, in the North-west of 
Austraha, during December, 1910 ; January and February, 1911. But during 
March of the latter year they became fairly numerous. On March 27th 
he fired into a mixed flock of Waders and obtained examples of this species, 
and one each of Numenius cyanopus, PJiceopus variegatus, Pagoa geoffroyi, 
Heteroscelus hrevipes, Squatarola squatarola, and Pisobia minuta ruficollis. 
He also found it common on Melville Island. 
Middendorff, who collected individuals of this bird in Siberia, says : 
“ From the end of June till the middle of August I saw large flocks of this 
species — chiefly females on the south coast of the sea of Ochotsk ; they did 
not breed, and their sexual organs remained undeveloped all the summer. 
Many flocks numbered over fifty individuals. 
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