BANDED STILT 
In the South Australian Ornithologist, Yol. XI., Part n., pp. 37 to 53, April 
1st, 1931, are photographs of nine differing eggs and nine other photographs of the 
birds, nests, young, etc., and McGilp and Morgan give a full account of the nesting 
of this Stilt, the second recorded. They mention the previous record of 1930 
and point out that the Field Naturalists have all been wrong in claiming to know 
the eggs of this bird. 
I have taken all this article from the work of the authors and the publications 
named. 
This nesting colony was discovered by Mr. R. McKay, manager of Moolawa- 
tana Station, near Lake Callabonna, on December 29th, 1930. Lake Callabonna 
is north of Lake Frome in South Australia, and contains an island on which 
this bird was breeding. 
The island was about 250 yards long by 15 to 20 feet high in the middle. 
The nests numbered about 26,136 and the eggs 78,408 ; a smaller nesting colony 
brought the number of nests up to 27,000 and the eggs to 81,000. 
When returning to the nests, after having been flushed, the birds advanced 
in a straight line. Each bird then stood some little distance from the nest, bent 
the neck forward, momentarily touched the edge of the nest furthest from it, 
the better to measure the correct distance, and then gently lowered itself upon 
the eggs, shuffled a little to get comfortable, sometimes attempting to arrange 
the eggs, and then sat contentedly facing the wind. When they quarrel the 
feathers of the head, neck and back are ruffled, and they attempt to peck each 
other, fencing with their long thin bills. When returning to their nests, and 
while sitting, the birds keep up a soft musical chattering. They are quite calm 
and do not resent a man. Every now and then a setting bird would get up and 
either run or fly to the water, dip its breast and neck two or- three times, and 
return to, and moisten its eggs, as a dry wind was blowing, the temperature 
under the veranda being 104°. Also, every now and then, a bird would run up 
from the water and feed its sitting mate, sometimes also taking its place, so that 
there was a constant procession of birds running to and from the nests and 
the water, where there was abundance of food. 
Occasionally one of the birds on the water “ barked . The call is like that 
of the White-headed Stilt, but is of softer pitch and not so harsh. The space 
occupied by the main colony was about three chairs square ; the egg cavity was 
six inches in diameter at the top and shaped like an inverted cone. Each 
nest was almost exactly a foot from the next. The nests were arranged in rows 
and it would have been quite easy to walk from one end of the colony to the other 
between two rows of nests. The eggs were not arranged with their points 
inwards, but were placed haphazard. 
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