?34 The Irish Naturalist. [November, 



white with a band of black near the end, widest in the middle 

 ones and narrowing as it approaches the sides of the tail. 

 Primaries black, secondaries pure white, tertiaries and wing 

 coverts ash grey with dark feathers coming out same as back. 

 I am indebted to my friend, Dr. C. J. Patten, for the following 

 very accurate measurements of the Sociable Plover compared 

 with our L,apwing : — 



Sociable Plover. Lapwing. 



fTibio-tarsus, 6*5 cm. 



Leg 



Tarso-metatarsus, 6*9 cm 



Hallux = 6 mm. 



Leg 



'Tibio-tarsus, 4*5 cm. 

 Tarso-metatarsus, 4*5 cm. 

 Hallux = 8 mm. 



L,ength of bill = 2*9 cm. Length of bill = 2 cm. 



The following notes are extracted from Mr. Howard 

 Saunders' "Manual" (pp. 537-8.) 



" In the autumn of the year 1860, or thereabouts, an immature example 

 of this south-eastern species was shot from among a flock of Lapwings 

 near St. Michael-on-Wye, in Lancashire, and having been placed in a 

 case with many other stuffed birds which impeded the view, it was first 

 erroneously recorded as a Cream-coloured Courser. 



" It afterwards came into the possession of Mr. W. H, Doeg, when it 

 was correctly identified, and was exhibited by the late Mr. Sebohm at a 

 meeting of the Zoological Society of London on Nov. 21st, 1888. It has 

 not yet been observed in Heligoland or the northern part of western 

 Europe, but as long ago as March, 1838, an adult was shot near Rome, 

 where a young female was obtained in Nov., 1872, while a third example 

 was killed near Sienna. On the Riviera an adult male was taken near 

 Nice in April, 1883. 



" The Sociable Plover inhabits the steppes of the Crimea, and of the 

 district between the Don and the Volga, and the Caucasus, as well as the 

 Aralo-Caspian area and Turkestan. In September it crosses the Pamirs 

 to the dry uplands of Sinde and the sandy plains of India, and wanders 

 southward to Ceylon in the cold season, when it also visits Arabia, 

 Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia. The food consists of spiders, grass- 

 hoppers, beetles, and their larvae. 



"Von Hugelin, who had opportunities of observing this bird in 

 Kordofan and Senaar, says that it frequented sandy localities and ground 

 that had been burnt ; it was as a rule quite silent, but every now and then 

 he heard it utter a short whistle." 



Dame-street, Dublin. 



