Part 20

v.c. shore 14.5

Upper light sooty-brown; forehead, line over eye, throat, under white; crown, nape, line from bill past eye black; bill, legs, feet black; like 70, but smaller; back, wings brown; f., sim. Fish.

=81= Black-breasted Plover =87= Black-fronted Dottrel =102= Sharp-tailed Sandpiper =106= Australian Snipe =107= Australian Painted Snipe =109= Southern Stone-Curlew =119= White-fronted Heron =123= Nankeen Night Heron =125= Australian Bittern

=70 Sooty Tern=, Wide-awake, Egg-bird, S. fuliginosa (S. fuscata, A.O.U.), tropical, sub-tropical seas, Br. (acc). [~70 Sterna fuscata.]

v.c. shores 17

Upper, crown, wings, line from bill past eye, tail black; forehead, under white; bill, feet black; like 69, but larger, blacker above; f., sim. Fish, squid. "Oo-ee."

=71* White-faced Ternlet=, Sea-swallow, Little (Fairy) Tern, Taraiti, S. nereis, A., N.Z. =vt. Eur. Little Tern.

c. shore 10.5

Upper silvery-gray; under, rump, tall, forehead white; crown, hind-neck black; bill, feet orange-yellow; f., sim. Small fish.

1 45

=72* Silver Gull= (Jameson), Seagull, Sea Pigeon, Larus novae-hollandiae, A., T., N. Cal., N.Z. (acc).

Stat. c. shore, inland 17.5

Head, neck, under, rump, tail white; back, wings delicate-gray; wing-tips white and black bars; bill, legs, feet blood-red; eye white; f., sim. Scraps, eggs, omnivorous.

1 1

=73* Pacific Gull= (Larger), Gabianus pacificus. A., T. =vt. Eur. Greater Black-backed Gull.

Stat. c. shore 25

"This fine gull;" head, neck, under white; tail white barred black; back, wings slaty-black; eye white; legs yellow; deepened bill orange tipped red; f., smaller; young up to 4 years mottled-brown, becoming more like adult each year. Fish, crabs, carrion.

F. 33. STERCORARIIDAE (4), SKUAS, Robber Gulls, Sea Pirates, 7 sp.--4(0)A., 1(0)O., 4(0)P., 3(0)E., 4(0)Nc., 4(1)Nl.

1 4

=74 Great Southern Skua=, Robber Gull, Port-Egmont-Hen, Sea-Hawk, Hakoakoa, Megalestris antarctica, S. Oceans, A., N.Z. =vt. Eur. Great Skua. [~74 Catharacta.]

Mig. r. shores 23

Upper blackish-brown; under chocolate-brown; wing white patch; centre tail feathers project 1/2in.; f., sim. Stolen fish, carrion.

2 3

=75 Richardson Skua= (Arctic), Arctic (Parasite) Gull, Long-tailed Jaeger, Sea-Pirate, Boatswain-Bird, Teaser, Stercorarius crepidatus, cos. [~75 Catharacta parasitica.]

Mig. r. shores 20

Dimorphic (two phases)--1. Dusky upper; blackish cap; narrow whitish collar; under white; brown band on chest; brown band on wing; centre tail feathers project 3ins.; strong bill, claws. 2. Under mottled and barred brown and whitish; follow bay steamers; f., sim. Stolen fish.

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The fifty Australian birds included in the important order of Waders are remarkably like such birds found inhabiting other regions of the globe, shore conditions apparently being somewhat similar the world over. It is interesting to note that thirteen of the forty-four Australian members of this family of Plover-like birds are also found in Britain, and that most of the others are direct representatives of closely-related birds found in other Countries. No less than twenty-eight of these birds are merely visitors here, for they breed away in the far North. Many even nest within the Arctic Circle, in Siberia, for it is a rule that a migrating bird nests in the colder of the two countries visited. Strictly, these twenty-eight species are Siberian, or at least northern, forms, and not Australian birds.