Charudrius Cantianus^ and Charadrius hiaticula, 87 



ces, which on comparison induce a belief that they are perfectly 

 distinct. 



The whole length of the Kentish Plover, from the point of the 

 beak to the end of the tail, is five inches and three quarters, the 

 whole length of the Ring Plover not quite seven inches, neither 

 having as yet attained their relative full size. The beak of the 

 first named is wholly black, that of the second has the point 

 black, the base dark orange. The white of the forehead in the 

 Kentish Plover extends over the eye on both sides, forming a 

 conspicuous brow; the same colour in the Ring Plover barely 

 reaches to the eye. The white collar of the neck in the Kentish 

 Plover, extends from the front only a little beyond the ears on 

 each side, and hence the name given to this bird by M. Temminck 

 of Pluvier a collier interrompu. The collar of the Ring Plover 

 is continued all round the neck, having a breadth of a quarter of 

 an inch at its narrowest part. The length of the wing in the 

 Kentish Plover, measuring from the point of the shoulder to the 

 extreme end of the first quill-feather, which is the longest, is four 

 inches and one-eighth ; the same part in the Ring Plover is four 

 inches and seven-eighths. The Kentish Plover has two outer tail 

 feathers on each side wholly white, the Ring Plover but one. 

 The tarsus of the Kentish Plover is rather longer and stouter, 

 but all the toes are one-eighth of an inch shorter than in the Ring 

 Plover, The legs in the Kentish Plover are black, those of the 

 Ring Plover orange. 



The young Kentish Plover before the moult, has no black about 

 the head, the forehead and brows white, front of the neck the 

 same, the patch on each side of the chest light brown, top of the 

 head, and all the upper parts light ash brown, under parts en- 

 tirely white. M. Temminck in the second edition of his Manual, 

 describes this bird as common in England ; he probably refers to 

 the Ring Plover, about which no such notice is taken, though 

 abundant all round our coast. The two specimens of the Kentish 

 Plover here mentioned are the only recent ones I ever had an 

 opportunity of examining. 



