188 Mcculloch, Eye-Colour of Jabiru Mnic Relationships of The

188 McCULLOCH, Eye-Colour of Jabiru [ Bird Watcher mnic Relationships of the Storks", appears in The Living Bird, Tenth Annual Report of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, New York, pp. 151-170. The author studied wild populations, in various countries through out the world, of all 17 species of storks over an 11 year period. On p. 151 he states that he has "attempted to give a general picture of the most characteristic behavioural traits of each species and to use these, in conjunction with other characters, to assess taxonomic relationships within the family". Our only Australian stork is referred to as the Black-necked Stork, and is illustrated in colour on Plate 6, with accompanying text which states "Pair on nest: male, with dark eye, standing; female, with yellow eye, sitting". The photograph was taken in India. On p. 168 Kahl states "Ephippiorhync.hus senegalensis (Saddlebill Stork) and Xenorhynchus asiaticus (Black-necked Stork) are strikingly similar in behaviour and in morphology, with the principal exception of soft-part coloration. They share the sexual dimorphism in iris color, which is shown by other species of stork. I see little justification for retaining both species in monotypic genera and pro pose that they be combined under Ephippiorhynchus, which has 'line-priority' in Bonaparte (1857: 106) ". I can find nothing published on this in Australian literature. G. F. van Tets. in P. Slater. A Field Guide to Australian Birds, 1970, states on p. 223 "Iris. white or yellow. Juveniles: iris, brown". Serventy, D. L. & H. M. Whitell, Birds of Western Australia, 1962, Paterson Brokensha. Perth, state p. 122 "Iris. white". G. M. Mathews, in Birds of Australia, 1913-14, states when des cribing an adult male "irides fine yellow, eyelash black", and for a one-year old bird "irides brown". A. J. North, in Nests and Eggs of Birds of Australia, etc., 4: 47, gives "Iris hazel" in adult male. This sexual difference will be of help to field observers. Mrs. Ellen M. McCulloch, Mitcham, Victoria. 17/7/1973. Palaearctic Waders Overwintering at Sunday Island. We visited Sunday Island, north-east of Corner Inlet, South Gippsland, on March 24-25, June 9-10, and July 7-8, 1973. On the first visit we saw large flocks of waders at a distance, but the only Palaearctic species identified were two Bar-tailed Godwit, Limosa lapponica, and a few Greenshank, T'finga nebularia. In June and July we were able to get much closer at low tide, and identified the following Palaearctic species. Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus, 1-2 June and nil July: Eastern Curlew, N. madagascariensis, 20-30 June and 35 July: Knot, Calidris canutus, 320 and 105: Red-necked Stint, C. ruficollis, 100 and 8: Bar-tailed Godwit, Limosa lapponica, c. 100 and 411. On these visits we also recorded a number of Australasian species: several hundreds of Pied Oystercatcher, Haematopus ostralegus; per haps 10-20 per cent. as many Sooty Oystercatcher, H. fuliginosus; a June JOHNSTONE, Waders Overwintering 189 1974 ] few Spur-winged Plover, V anellus novaehollandiae; the odd Hooded Dotterel, Charadrius cucullatus; a few Double-banded Dotterel, C. bicinctus; and several Red-capped Dotterel, C. alexandrinus. The large numbers of Bar-tailed Godwit and Knot were of special interest as it is unusual to record these species in winter. Condon and McGill (1967, Field Guide to the Waders), stated that "in eastern Australia good numbers (of Bar-tailed God wits) remain over winter", but described the Knot as "uncommon in Victoria", and merely recorded that "some birds remain over winter". CLONMELL Is 0 2 I I Kilomett:rs Figure 3. All the observations were made in the hatched area at the eastern end of Sunday Island. The identification of the distinctive Godwits, which were all in non-breeding plumage, can hardly be questioned, but our field description of the Knot is given as evidence of their identity: con siderably larger than Red-necked Stint; body dumpy; bill black, straight, angled very slightly upwards; pale superciliary stripe; body brown-grey, under parts paler; under tail nearly white; rump pale, perhaps finely barred; breast of some nearly white, of others finely streaked grey-brown on dirty white; pale wing-stripe running for most of the length of the wing about one third in from the hind edge; tips of flight feathers were pale. Four Knots in June and one in July were in breeding plumage with rich chestnut under parts. On taking wing some called a low quiet note. Both Godwit and Knot were associated in a single flock, but it was noticeable that when the flock flew the Knot stayed together and, on landing, remained rather crowded, although feeding actively where the retreating tide was uncovering fresh mud. 190. ADDENDUM [ Bird Watcher All our observations were made around the eastern end of the island, as shown on the accompanying map. The differences between the June and July counts need not imply changes for the popula tions present in the area, as there are extensive areas of mud-flats to the west, to the north between Sunday Island and the mainland and to the east around Scrubby Island, Dog Island, Horn Island and Clonmel Island. Flocks of Oystercatchers were seen to fly east towards Clonmel Island in June and July, and other waders were seen flying towards the mainland in March. Exploration of these areas might reveal that much larger numbers overwinter here. It is noteworthy that the winter of 1973 was unusually mild. We thank Messrs. F. T. H. Smith, J. Hyett and Roy P. Cooper for comment on our observations, Mr. B. Hill for drawing the map,, and Mr. and Mrs. C. Tivendale of the Para Park Game Reserve Co-operative Ltd., for enabling us to visit Sunday Island. G. W. and K. A. Johnstone, Windsor, Victoria, 21/9/ 1973. .

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