On White Fronted Chats Poem by Francis Duggan

Of dark band around breast and neck and face and unders white to gray
And brown wings and bluish backs birds i do not see every day
They mostly live in flat shrublands close to the ocean shore
Among the birds of Australia as well known they are not to the fore
The female birds in looks plainer than the males white undersand head and wings backs and tails of brown
White fronted chats are never seen in the park of a town
Though i have seen them on the kelp eating sea lice on beaches by the sea
These quiet litle birds seem almost strangers to me
In neat cup of grass in low bush or grass tussock the female chat does lay
Three or four dotted brown eggs of a light pale to gray
Their breeding Season through Summer from mid Spring
And their song to it has a low metallic ring
White fronted chats are birds i do not see every day
But they are quite interesting in their own quiet way.