154 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



rainy season does not start until about six or seven weeks later. 

 Erlanger ^* writes that in Ethiopia the birds breed in August, which 

 coincides quite closely with the inception of the rains. 



On March 18, at Black Lake Abaya, Mearns recorded 100 of these 

 lily trotters. 



Family CHARADRIIDAE 



CHARADRIUS HIATICULA TUNDRAE (Lowe) 



Aegialitis hiaticula tundrae Lowe, Bull. Brit. Orii. CL, vol. 36, p. 7, 1915: 

 Yenesei Valley, Siberia. 



Specimens collected: 



Male, Djibouti, French Somaliland, November 22, 1911. 



The single specimen collected is not fully adult, as it has the pec- 

 toral band dark brown, not black. 



Both races of this palearctic plover winter in Africa, but the 

 Siberian one migrates to the eastern half of the continent, while 

 the European birds winter on the western coasts south to Cape 

 Town. 



In studying this species I have assembled a series of 32 specimens 

 of both forms. My conclusions agree with those of Hartert,"*^ the 

 typical race being larger, having longer wings, and averaging some- 

 what paler above. However, the color of the upper parts seems to be 

 a less constant character than the wing length. Of African exam- 

 ples, I have seen but four besides the one listed above. Two birds 

 from Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika Territory, and one from Nairobi, 

 Kenya Colony, are tundrae^ while one from the south end of Lake 

 Edward, Belgian Congo, is referable to the typical race. Van Som- 

 eren ^'^ has listed both forms as winter visitors in Kenya Colony. 

 His measurements, however, all agree with those of tundrae rather 

 than hiaticula^ and it seems somewhat doubtful that both forms are 

 represented in his series. On the other hand he writes that both 

 dark and lighter specimens are present in his series and that, 

 4t * * * j^ ig noticeable that November to January birds are paler 

 than February to April specimens, and some of the latter are as pale 

 as the typical form." 



Granvik ^' lists hiaticula from Lake Naivasha, Kenya Colon}' — a 

 specimen apparently not fully adult. No measurements are given. 

 This is probably also referable to tundrae. 



Mrs. Meinertzhagen, who has made a detailed study of this species, 

 writes ^^ of tundrae that while " * * * it has distinctly darker 



"Journ. f. Ornitb., 1905, p. 85. 



*6 VoK. pal. Fauna, pp. 1533-34. 



*«Nov. Zool., vol. 21), 1922, p. 14. 



♦■'Journ. f. Ornith., 1923, Sonderheft, p. 35. 



^ Practical Handbook Brit. Birds, vol. 2, 1924, p. 519, footnoto. 



