THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Legge, Proc. Austr. Ass. Adv. Sci., Vol. IV., p. 950, 1892, added Victoria 
to the List, on the authority of Ramsay. 
I have never heard however of a second specimen, and consider it a very 
doubtful constituent of the Australian List. 
“ Bartram’s Tattler, or the ‘ Upland Plover,’ as it is generally called by 
sportsmen, is a bird of wide and general dispersion in the Western Hemi- 
sphere, while its casual occurrence in Europe is attested, and it is even stated 
to have been found in Australia. It inhabits at different seasons nearlv all 
of North America, and in winter pushes its migration even to Central and 
South America, as well as into the West Indies. But it has not, to my 
knowledge, been found in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains. 
It occurs in summer as far north as the Yukon, though thousands of the birds 
also breed within the hmite of the United States. 
“ In most parts of the West, between the Mississippi and the Rocky 
Mountains, this Tattler, commonly known as the ‘ Prairie Pigeon,’ is 
exceedingly abundant during the migrations — ^more so than I can suppose 
it to be in settled portions of the country. In Texas, I am told, it occurs 
in flocks ‘ of thousands.’ In Kansas, during the month of May, it migrates 
in great numbers, being scattered over the prairies everywhere, and it is so 
tame that it may be destroyed without the sHghtest artifice ; I have seen it 
just escape being caught with the crack of a coach-whip. Passing northward, 
it enters Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota the same month. About the middle 
of May it reaches the latitude of Fort Randall, with great numbers of Golden 
Plover and Esquimaux Curlew, flecking the prairies everywhere. Its breeding 
habits may be studied with perfect success in Northern Dakota, where it is 
the most abundant of all the waders. We can scarcely cross a piece of 
prairie, or travel a mile along the roads anywhere, without seeing it. Its 
gentle and unsuspicious ways, its slender and graceful shape, and the beauty 
of its markings, are all ahke attractive, while the excellence of its flesh is 
another point not less interesting, but less favorable for the bird. Too many 
are destroyed at this season when they are pairing, for few can resist the 
tempting shots, as the birds step along the road-side or stand erect in the 
scanty grass, gazing at the passing vehicle with misplaced confidence. By 
the end of May those that are to breed further north have passed on, while 
the remainder have paired and are about to nest. 
“As soon as they are mated the pairs keep close company, being rarely 
beyond each other’s call, and are oftenest seen rambhng together through 
the grass. At such times they seem very slender, as indeed they are, over- 
topping the scanty herbage with their long, thin necks, swaying continually 
in graceful motion. Their ordinary note at this, as at other seasons, is a 
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