80 Zoology, 



bourhood of Frampton on Severn. Not having any work of reference 



where I am now writing, I cannot exactly say whether I am 'correct in. its 



g^^^ V 33 * name (the *Cape goose). En-. 



^^Hp^ ^^ . . closed is a small,* but tolerably 



'^hI ^^fti^K accurate, ske'tcji ( fig. 33. )j 



Jn ^Hj^H^ ^^ roughly made by. me, since the 



■^^^ sB^t^^^^ "^A \ ^^^^ ^^^ heen set up. This, with 



^^^^^^^^^^^^■^^^^^^^ j\ the description,- will enable your 



^^^|^^^H||^^^^^^^^^^^y readers to form a tolerable no- 



hjiL^|^9|^^^^^^^^^^^^^^<(/-^ tion of this very handsome bird. 



^^H^^^^^l^^^^^^^^^^^^ The head is ash colour, mixed 



^r^-^^^m^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^!^ with chestnut ; the patch sur- 



'^^m^^mi^^^ ^^S^B^\m mlil/m rounding the eye bright chest- 



^'^^^^^^^^mB^^^^SS^/lMPy ""^ * ^^^ ^^ck ash colour, in- 



^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^Jtv// clining to chestnut; bill small, 



Ji^^^^^~^^^^^^^^r~^"^'^^7^ rather high in the middle-; the 



. *^^^^^^^^^^^^»^^^*;^^ nostrils ^nd the edges of the bill 



^^'^=*^s^=-;,,-_^;.;^..^:j^P^>^ black. Round the lower part of 



the neck is a bright chestnut ring j breast ferruginous, speckled with black, 

 and on the lower part of the breast is a large patch of bright chestnut. Sca- 

 pulars ash colour, on a light chestnut ground, pencilled with black. Pri- 

 maries glossy black. Bastard wing white, divided by a line of glossy green 

 feathers, the rest of the wing dark chestnut, slightly pencilled with black. 

 Belly dusky, and speckled vent, ferruginous rump, and tail black. Legs 

 and feet red, toes black. Length from top of the beak to the end of the 

 tail 2 ft. 4 in. From the bird's being set up, as drawn, I had no opportunity 

 of measuring the breadth. Jt was pursued for many days before it was 

 shot. Yours, &c. — Walter Henry Hill. January 13. 1830. 



The Kentish Plover not a variety of the Ring Plover y or Dulwillyy as it is 

 asserted to be in Rennie*s Montagu's Ornithological Dictionary, — Sir, Hav- 

 ing taken up the second edition of Montagues Ornithological Dictionary^ 

 edited by James Rennie, A.M. A.L.S. &c., in hope of finding some account 

 of the Kentish plover, I found it stated to be a " variety of the king- 

 plover," or dulwilly [Charadrius hiaticula hinn?^. Now, as, in the same 

 work, it is justly affirmed, " that it is by observation alone that science can 

 be enriched, while a single fact is frequently sufficient to demolish a 

 system ; " and as I only wish to accomplish the first part of this quotation ; 

 I do not conceive I shall incur the charge of presumption if, in opposition 

 to Montagu's opinion, strengthened as it is by that of Mr. Rennie, I lay 

 before you my reasons for thinking the Kentish plover to be a distinct 

 species : hoping that, through your Magazine, either my error, or that of 

 the ornithologists who doubt the Kentish plover's being a species, may be 

 corrected. In May, 1830, I first met with these birds, in Pegwell Bay, 

 and on the Sandwich Plats, in Kent. They were then in pairs, and pro- 

 bably bred in the banks of shells which abound there. On examining a 

 bird shot on the 25th of May, 1 found it to be a male, according exactly 

 with Latham's description of the bird given in Bewick, except in size ; the 

 following being the measurement : — Length from the point of the bill to 

 the tip of the tail, 6^ in. ; breadth, 13i in. Latham says it is of the same 

 size as the ring plover ; now the latter bird measures nearly 1\ in. in 

 length, and 17 in. in breadth; making a difference between the two of 

 nearly an inch in length, and 3^ in. in breadth. The bill of the Kentish 

 plover is more slender than that of the ring plover, and measures five 

 eighths of an inch. The female differs from the male, in having no black 

 or rufous colour in her plumage ; her markings are otherwise the same as 

 in the male bird. Although I cannot say that the Kentish plovers did not 

 mix in the flocks of ring plovers and dunlins in feeding ; yet I never saw 

 them join them in the air. Indeed they seldom took wing ; but, on being 



