Part 21

Many members of this group undergo a seasonal change of plumage when breeding time comes. As they spend this season in the Northern Hemisphere, we do not see them in their brilliant colors, but in quiet, mottled browns and grays.

Some are "accidental" visitors to Australia. Possibly they find their way here by getting mixed with a company of allied birds on their annual journey south. Thus the Common (British) Sandpiper is a very rare bird here, though it retains its British name--Common Sandpiper. Similarly, other European and American birds have been recorded, and the number of these far-wandering birds recorded from Australia is likely to be still further increased. The stout, short-legged Turnstone is the most cosmopolitan of birds. Breeding in Siberia, so widely does it roam, that it has visited almost every shore in the world, where, true to name, it turns the stones in search of sandhoppers.

The two "Oyster-catchers"--"Redbills"--are representatives of similar birds found almost the world over. Their deepened, flat bill is said to serve as a pick-axe to force open oysters and mussels. We found one or two pairs on almost every shore we visited about Bass Strait, on Eyre Peninsula, and on the Barrier Reef.

The two common Plovers--the Spurwing and Black-breasted--do not migrate, so we see them in brighter colors. Still, though bright when noticed, they are yet wonderfully protected, as they stand quite still. I felt great astonishment on finding that I had driven, near Lake Tyrrell, into the midst of a company of over a thousand Black-breasted Plovers, not noticed until the eye picked out one and then another. It recalled to mind the scene in the Lady of the Lake, when Fitz James found the hillside alive with Roderick Dhu's warriors.

The White-headed Stilt, or Long-legged Plover, is one of five species spread throughout the world. Some people have pretended to pity the Stilt for being one of Nature's misfits, but surely they never saw the bird in a state of nature enjoying life, and gaining an easy living on shallow tidal flats, its long legs being a beautiful adaptation to the environment in which it lives.

The Banded Stilt is a purely Australian bird, and has no representative in other countries. These and some other shore-birds live about tidal flats, and get their food in the soft mud. Their long bill is often flexible, and the tip is sometimes well supplied with nerves, so that it is sensitive. The bird can thus detect, in the soft mud, any animal that would serve for food. It can then open its bill enough to catch the animal without trouble. The Avocet's bill is sharply curved upwards, and is one of the most remarkable of such organs. The Australian Avocet is one species of a cosmopolitan genus.

Some of the Dottrels live on the dry, open plains of the interior; others frequent the beaches and shores.

When a bird of prey appears, these plain-living birds squat quite flat, placing even the head flat on the ground. They thus escape detection, for the protective coloring of these birds and of their eggs is marvellous. The story of how a photograph of a Dottrel's nest was obtained is of value to teachers, for it will remind us that it is not well to neglect the three R's, and that Nature-study alone will not give a complete education. Three bird-lovers spent some time trying to find this nest, while the parent birds flew noisily around. Suspecting at last that the birds' knowledge of numbers was probably deficient, the three hid behind a log. Two then walked away. The birds immediately returned to the nest, and a valuable photograph was the result. A training in Nature-study, valuable as it undoubtedly is, is thus not all of our work.

The Painted Snipe breeds in Australia, but the Australian Snipe breeds in Japan, so it, properly speaking, is not an Australian bird. Think of the journey twice a year! Six of these wading-birds even visit New Zealand each year. How do they find their way there, across a gap of over 1000 miles, without any land whatever? Inherited memory is strong, but how did the first batches find their way? Their annual journey supports the geographer in his surmise that Australia at no very distant date extended very much farther to the east. Indeed, these birds almost certainly follow the old coast of the Australian continent.

Snipe, some Plovers, Dottrels, Curlews (Sea), Whimbrels, Godwits, &c., thus go to the North each year to partake of the abundant banquet of fruits, &c., preserved in the great ice chamber of the North. Numberless flocks of birds follow up the melting ice, and so nest unmolested on the great tundras and plains of Siberia. They wear their bright wedding dress in the far North, and are known here only in the quiet mottled browns and grays. In autumn these birds depart. They travel mostly at night, to avoid Birds of Prey, and so are seldom seen, though they may be heard calling as they pass high overhead. They are occasionally seen with the aid of telescopes as they pass across the face of the moon.

The Pratincole, or Swallow-Plover, is a representative of an Old-World family. Its long wings and long legs denote a rapid runner and a rapid flyer, so that it has little trouble in catching its insect food, either in the air or on the ground.

Our inland Stone-Curlew has a call very similar to that of the sea (true) Curlew, but it has a short, straight bill, instead of a long, arched bill. The proper name of the land Curlew is the Southern Stone-Curlew or Stone-Plover. It is the only Australian bird that seems to have the power of varying the color of its eggs. If the eggs are laid in grass, they are greenish; if amongst ironstone, the eggs are reddish-brown; if on sand, the eggs are tawny; and so on. Other ground-laying birds seem to pick out the soil that matches the color of their eggs, and lay there only. Possibly local races of the Southern Stone-Curlew keep to the one class of country. However, the eggs do match the surroundings, and the birds nest on different kinds of soil and rock.

In Family 42, the only Australian bird is the Australian Bustard, our representative of a widely-spread family, a member of which formerly bred in Great Britain. It is the well-known "Wild Turkey." As it is a good table bird, it is generally shot on sight. This is a mistake, as it is (as Mr. C. French, Government Entomologist, has pointed out) worth many times its table value as an insect destroyer. None of the family has spread to America. As no Bustard occurs in the regions between Australia and India, this bird supplies a good example of what is known to zoo-geographers as "discontinuous distribution." "Discontinuous distribution," as applied to land animals, e.g., marsupials found in America and Australia, ratite birds in South America, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, or the tapir, found in Central America and Malaysia, implies a land connexion (not necessarily complete at any one period) to allow of the gradual spread of the animals. Of course, as flying birds can pass easily from one region to another, "discontinuous distribution," as applied to them, cannot have so much importance attached to it as indicating previous land connexions.

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ORDER X.--CHARADRIIFORMES.

F. 34. Chionididae, Sheathbills, Kelp-Pigeons, 3 sp.--2(2)E. 1(1)Nl.

F. 35. Thinocorythidae, Seed-Snipe, Seed-Plover, 5 sp. Nl.

F. 36. CHARADRIIDAE (44), Waders, Plover-like Birds, 202 sp.--68(29)A., 75(5)O., 84(2)P., 70(24)E., 65(3)Nc., 74(28)Nl.

1 2

=76 Turnstone=, Sea-Dottrel, Calico (beach) Bird, Arenaria interpres, cos. [~76 Morinella interpres.]

Mig. c. shore 8

Winter plumage, mottled brown, black; summer plumage in far north; black and white conspicuous; short bill black; legs, feet, orange; f., duller. Sand-hoppers, shellfish.

2 13

=77 Pied Oyster-catcher= (White-breasted, Black and white), Seapie, Olive, Redbill, Torea, Haematopus longirostris, Mol., N.G., A., T., N.Z., Chatham Is. =vt. Eur. Oyster-catcher.

Stat. c. shores 19.5

Black; abdomen, rump, base tail above, below white; eyes, bill, legs red; bill 3.75in.; f., sim. Sand-hoppers, shellfish, worms.

=78 Black Oyster-catcher= (Sooty), Redbill, Toreo-pango, H. fuliginosus, A., T., N.Z.

Stat. c. shores 18