NOiW-INDIGEXOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 



Family CHARADRIID.E. Genus .FIgialophilus. 



Sub-family CHARADKIlNAi. 



CASPIAN SAND PLOVER. 



^^GIALOPHILUS ASIATICUS {Pallas). 



(British : Very rare abnormal spring migrant.) 

 Number of Broods unknown. Laying season unknown. 



Breeding area : South central Palaearctic region. 

 The Caspian Sand Plover is only presumed to breed in 

 the basins of the Caspian and Aral seas. Its distribution 

 during summer is most imperfectly known, and eggs, so 

 far as I can learn, have been taken in two localities only. 



Breeding habits : The habits of the Caspian Sand 

 Plover during the breeding season are practically un- 

 known. It is a migratory bird, and in summer frequents 

 sandy plains, and the banks and shores of rivers and seas. 

 The nest appears never to have been described by any 

 English naturalist. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Caspian Sand Plover are described by 

 Mr. Dresser as oval and tapering in shape, warm buff 

 with a faint tinge of green in ground colour, and the 

 spots nearly black. This description appears to me a 

 doubtful one. Middendorff figures an ^^^ of this bird in 

 his Rcise in Nord- tind Ost-Sibirien, vol. II. pi. xix. 

 fig. 4. 



Diagnostic characters : In the present state of 

 our knowledge it is impossible to say whether any 

 character exists by which the eggs of this bird can be 

 distinguished from those of alHed species. 



