BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 155 



upper parts than C. h. hiaticvla in summer, the latter is decidedly 

 darker in winter than in summer plumage, so that it seems impossible 

 to differentiate and state that the darker specimens are tundrae. 

 The measurements of the two forms unfortunately overlap * * *." 

 Birds collected in the winter range are better identified by size 

 alone. 



Col. R. Meinertzhagen *^ writes that tumdrae is the race that occurs 

 in Egypt, Somaliland, and Kenya Colony in winter. " In the latter 

 country they are common on the coast from October onward. They 

 do not seem to move till April, and a few were still at Lamu on the 

 coast on April 22, after which date all had gone north." 



Erlanger ^° collected a mated pair at Garre Liwin, southern So- 

 maliland, on May 16, and assumed that they were breeding there; 

 this constituting the first record of this species nesting in Africa. 

 Zedlitz ^^ also records the ringed plover as an occasional resident in 

 northeastern Africa. However, many years before, Von Heuglin 

 had noted late birds, sometimes in pairs, along the Red Sea coasts 

 in May and June, but never actually found them breeding. Until 

 definite proof of their breeding there is produced, these records can 

 not be interpreted as evidence of nesting. It is a well known fact in 

 other parts of the world that the first south-bound (postbreeding) 

 migrants of a species often arrive before the last of the north-bound 

 individuals have left for the breeding grounds. Probably some such 

 explanation is pertinent in the present instance. 



Mearns found this plover very abundant at Djibouti. 



CHARADRIUS DUBIUS CURONICUS Gmelin 



Charadrius curonicus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 692, 1789: Curouia, 

 t. e. Courland. 



Specimens collected : 



Female, Sadi Malka, Ethiopia, December 20, 1911. 



Two males, Hawash River, Ethiopia, February 10, 1912. 



This bird is widely distributed over Africa south to the equator 

 in winter. There are not many Ethiopian records, however, but that 

 is probably partly due to the paucity of observers rather than of 

 birds. Ogilvie-Grant ^- listed a specimen from Lake Harrar Meyer, 

 December 30, 1898. This was the first record for the country and 

 remained unique until Erlanger ^^ obtained a second example on 

 Gididsha Island, Abaya Lake, January 28, 1901. The three col- 

 lected by Mearns appear to be the only other specimens from 



^ojbls, 1922, p. 72. 



liojourn. f. Ornith., 1905, p. 63. 



« Idem, 1909, p. 308. 



^-Ihis, 1900, p. 330. 



"Journ. f. Ornith., 1905, p. 63. 



