THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
30 yards, bending occasionally to this or that side or even turning suddenly 
completely round . . . 
“We found, amongst other food, that the birds would eat mice and 
half-fledged sparrows. On giving them one of these, the Stone-Plover 
would take it by the head and give it blows, as if to break the bones 
and render the morsel less bulky, but these efforts seemed too feeble to 
accomplish much. After some minutes the animal would be swallowed 
whole , . . Both sexes assisted in the incubation process.”* 
Littler (lx,) has grave doubts about this bird being found in Tasmania, 
except as an accidental visitor. 
This bird was first made known to science when Latham examined the 
Watling Drawings. In these, three different paintings are included, and being 
made by artists who had been trained in quite distinct schools, the paintings 
looked very dissimilar. 
I append Latham’s descriptions as they are worthy of study : — 
General Synopsis Birds, SuppL, Vol. II., 1801. 
(p. 319) Great-Billed Pl[over]. Size of the Golden Plover : bill black, stout, and very broad, 
resembling the Tody genus : the general colour of the upper parts is blue-grey, streaked 
with black ; beneath pale ash, but with the same markings : forehead, part of the crown, 
and ears, minutely spotted : quills black ; base of several of the primaries white : legs 
dull blue. 
Inhabits New South Wales. 
{p. 319) High-Legged Pl[over]. This has a nearly straight biU, the crown, back, and wings 
blue grey, marked with black streaks, largest on the back and crown ; irides yellow : 
beneath the eyes, on the ears, a large patch of brown ; the under parts are dusky white, 
streaked on the neck and breast with pale brown : inner ridge of the wing ferruginous ; 
quills black. It stands very high upon its legs, not much less so than the Long-legged 
Plover : the colour of them pale blue. 
Inhabits New South Wales. 
(p. 320) Bridled Pl[over]. The bill in this bird is blueish ; the plumage on the upper parts of 
the body and tail pale cinereous blue, dashed with small brown streaks : sides of the 
neck marked with a broad dusky streak, taking rise beneath the eye, and descending to 
the beginning of the back : the under parts of the body are pale, marked with narrow 
dusky hues on the breast ; belly white ; quills dusky ; legs yellow. 
Inhabits New South Wales. 
In the Index Ornith., Suppl., 1801, published simultaneously, Latham 
named these three, Charadrius magnirostris (p. Ixvi.), C. grallarius (p. Ixvi.), 
and C. frcenatus (p. Ixvii.). 
Though at the time unrecognised in collections, lUiger introduced for the 
first-named a new generic name, Burhinus. 
* Cleland, Emu, Vol. V., p. 192, 1906. 
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