DOTTEREL PLOVER. 105 



roundish, a little compressed, the forehead rounded. The 

 bill is short, slender, straight, sub-cylindrical; the upper 

 mandible with the dorsal line straight for two-thirds, then 

 convex and decimate, the ridge flattened at the base, the 

 edges a little involute toward the tip, which is rather sharp ; 

 the lower mandible with the outline of the crura short and 

 slightly concave, the dorsal line ascending and straight, the 

 edges sharp, involute toward the end, the tip rather sharp ; the 

 gape-line straight, the nasal groove extended to two-thirds. 



The nostrils are linear, lateral, sub-basal, two-twelfths 

 and a half in length. The eyes large, their aperture nearly 

 three-twelfths. The legs are of moderate length, slender ; 

 the tibia bare for half-an-inch ; the tarsus slender, roundish, 

 covered all round with hexagonal scales ; the outer toe con- 

 nected at the base with the middle toe by a short membrane ; 

 the inner much shorter, with eighteen scutella, the next 

 with twenty-five, the outer with twenty-two ; all marginate, 

 and having the soles smoothish and flattened. The claws 

 are short, considerably curved, compressed, slender, bluntish. 



The plumage is soft and rather blended; the feathers 

 oblong and obtuse, those of the head short. The wings are 

 long and acuminate ; the first quill longest, the second a 

 twelfth and a half shorter, the rest rapidly graduated ; the 

 outer secondaries incurved, obliquely rounded, and acumi- 

 nate ; one of the inner secondaries as long as the second 

 quill when the wing is closed. Tail of moderate length, 

 rounded. 



The bill is bluish-black ; the iris brown ; the feet pale 

 brownish-green, the toes blackish-grey, the heel orange, the 

 claws black. The upper part of the head brownish-black ; 

 the feathers of the forehead margined with white ; a white 

 band extends from the lore, over the eye, to the occiput, 

 where it meets that of the other side ; the sides of the head 

 and the throat white, with some dusky specks ; the ear- 

 coverts and the neck all round pale greyish-brown. The 

 upper parts are pale greyish-brown, the feathers margined 

 with brownish-yellow ; the scapulars and inner secondaries 

 darker and shaded with green. The primary quills and 

 coverts are greyish-brown, the shaft of the first quill white ; 



