There are few parts in the located districts of Australia in which this bird is not to be found. Its peculiar and melancholy cry, ran through the silence of the desert itself, and wherever rocks occurred near water they were also seen but not in any number. We caught a fine young bird at Flood's Creek, but as it was impossible to keep it, we let it go. This bird very much resembles the stone Plover of England, but there are some slight differences of plumage.
112. SARCIOPHORUS PECTORALIS.--Black-breasted Dottrel.
This bird is remarkable for a small red wattle protruding from the bill, with a grey back and wings. It takes its name from its black breast.
113. EUDROMIAS AUSTRALIS, GOULD.--Aust. Dottrel.
This singular bird like several others of different genera, made its appearance in 1841 suddenly on the plains of Adelaide, seeming to have come from the north. It occupied the sand hills at the edge of the Mangrove swamps and fed round the puddles of water on the plains. This bird afforded my friend Mr. Torrens, an abundant harvest, as they were numerous round his house, but although some few have visited South Australia every year, they have never appeared in such numbers as on the first occasion. The plumage is a reddish brown, with a dark horseshoe on the breast. It has a full eye, and runs very fast along the ground, Mr. Browne and I met or rather crossed several flights of these birds in August of 1845, going south. They were in very large open plains and were very wild.
114. HIATICULA NIGRIFRONS.--Black-fronted Dotrell.
Much smaller than the preceding. A pretty little bird with a plaintive note, generally seen in pairs on the edge of muddy lagoons. Its plumage is a mixture of black, white, and brown, the first colour predominating on the head and breast. It runs with great swiftness, but delights more in flying from one side of a pond to the other.
115. CHLADORHYNCHUS PECTORALIS.--The Banded Stilt.
This singular bird, with legs so admirably adapted by their length for wading into the shallow lakes and sheets of water, near which it is found, is in large flocks in the interior. It was in great numbers on Lepson's Lake to the northward of Cooper's Creek, and on Strzelecki's Creek was sitting on the water with other wild fowl making a singular plaintive whistle. It is semipalmated, has black wings, and a band of brown on the breast, but it is otherwise white. Its bill is long, straight and slender, and its legs are naked for more than an inch and half above the knee.
116. HIMANTOPUS LEUCOCEPHALUS, GOULD.--The white-headed Stilt.