LITTLE RINGED-PLOVER 



Aegialitis minor 



General colour of upper plumage a delicate grey-brown ; 

 under plumage white, with a black bar through the eye, and 

 a dark mark on the forehead, bordered at its lower and upper 

 margin with white ; and a rich black collar going nearly all 

 round body; legs reddish. Total length, 6'5 inches. 



This bird no one can fail to see, as, though it is 

 in other countries a shy bird, it is here amazingly 

 tame and familiar. By the river, by canal-side, 

 round every small pool or watercourse, there you 

 will see this cheerful little compact-shaped bird. 

 All last winter, 1907-8, I had seen great numbers 

 in the Thebes district, but in this winter of 1909 I 

 have on Lake Menzaleh seen literally thousands of 

 Ring-Plover. I cannot be sure they were all " the 

 Little Ring-Plover " ; that they were Ring-Plovers, 

 I am certain, but as there are three species of 

 Ring -Plover — the Great, the Middle, and the 

 Little (and Captain Shelley strangely gives the 

 dimensions of the Middle form as smaller than 

 the Little) — it is safest not to be too dogmatic, 

 and only call them Ring-Plovers. It is a very 

 active bird, incessantly on the search for food, 



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