THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Adult male, in summer-'plumage. Head and hind-neck dark brown with white margins 
to the feathers ; mantle and npper-back black with grey edgings, the dark markings 
becoming more elongated on some of the long scapulars where the margins are grey 
barred with black ; lesser, median, and greater wing-coverts dark brown, some of 
the major coverts edged with white at the tips, the small marginal-coverts round 
the bend of the wing also edged with white ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts and 
quills dark brown, the latter paler brown on the inner webs, some of the short inner 
primaries narrowly tipped with white, the shaft of the first, or outer primary, is 
white ; secondaries greyish-brown, mottled with white on the inner webs, and 
edged with white at the tips, the long innermost secondaries like the long scapulars ; 
lower-back and the rump white ; upper tail-coverts and tail white, barred with brown, 
the bars much more sparsely shown on the outer feathers of the latter ; a ring of 
short white feathers encircles the eye ; fore-head, sides of face, and throat white, 
with dark central streaks to the feathers ; the central lines become larger and 
more pear-shaped on the sides of the neck, fore-neck, and breast : these markings 
are more or less broken up into bars on the sides of the body and lateral under 
tail-coverts ; axillaries and under wing-coverts white, barred with brown ; greater 
under wing-coverts uniform grey with white edges ; biU brown, basal third leaden- 
grey ; iris blackish-brown ; tarsi and feet light grey. Total length 335 mm. ; 
culmen 52, wing 183, tail 80, tarsus 58. 
Adult female, in summer-'plumage. Similar to the adult male, but larger. 
Adult male, in winter-plumage. Differs from the summer-plumage in being greyer and less 
black on the upper-surface, and by the uniform white under-surface. 
The bird m autumn has the dark upper-surface similar to the summer-plumage, 
and the all-white under-surface like that of the winter-plumage. 
Young bird of the year. Similar to the adult in winter-plumage, but differs on the 
upper-parts where the feathers are more mottled and the margins regularly edged 
with wliite. 
Nest. A depression in the grass. 
Eggs. Clutch, four ; ground-colour pale stone, covered with very dark-red blotches and 
underlying ones of lavender ; axis 48-50 mm., diameter 34. 
Breeding-season. May, June (Siberia). 
Mr. J. P. Hogers, writing from Derby, North-west Australia, says that he 
found these birds usually on the beaches, but at times they came to the small 
clay-pans to feed. These are the only Waders he found in the fresh-water. 
They never associated with other species. He also found them on the Fitzroy 
River on July 16th, 1911. 
Mr. Rogers also found them the wariest of all Totanine Waders on 
MelviUe Island, only second to Numenius cyanopiis. 
Mr. Tom Carter says : “ The Greenshank has only come under my 
observation a few times. On January 24th, 1898, I shot a specimen on the 
bank of the Yardie Creek, and odd birds were seen occasionally in a large 
mangrove swamp near North West Cape. On November 25, 1905, I shot 
another on the edge of a stock tank at Wensleydale, Broome Hill, South- 
west Austraha. Another specimen was noted on the edge of the Jacob 
226 
