THE KENTISH SAND PLOVER 



{mgialophilus cantianus) 



rriHIS pretty species appears to have been at 



all times an excessively local one. It must 



always have an exceptional interest for British 



naturalists, inasmuch as it was first made known 



to science from examples obtained on the south 



coast of England little more than a hundred 



years ago. To Mr. Boys of Sandwich belongs the 



credit of its discovery. This gentleman sent an 



example to Latham, which was figured by Lewin 



in his work on British Birds published in 1800; 



whilst a year later Latham himself described it 



in the Supplement to his celebrated Index Orni- 



thologicus, having received two more examples 



from Mr. Boys in 1791. Although this Plover has 



been obtained accidentally in other parts of the 



British area, its normal distribution is confined to 



the shingly beaches of Kent and Sussex. There is 



no evidence of its breeding on any other part of 



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