limicol.t:. 303 



Suborder XXVII. LIMICOL^E. 



Palate schizognathous ; nasals scliizorliinal ; dorsal vcrtebi'ce opis- 

 thocoelous ; basipterygoid processes present. 



The suborder Limicolaj consists of two families. The Cbaradriidte, 

 containing rather more than 150 species, are cosmopolitan. The 

 Parridse do not number a dozen species, and are confined to the 

 tropical regions of the world. 



Fifty species belonging to the family Charadriidse are recorded 

 from Japan. 



303. CHARADRIUS FULVUS. 

 (ASIATIC GOLDEN PLOVER.) 



Charadrius fulvus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 687 (1788). 



The Asiatic Golden Plover belongs to a small group of Plovers 

 which have the tail-feathers transversely barred. It is the only 

 species in this group which has grey axillaries. 



Figures : Temminck and Schlegeb Fauna Japonica, Aves, pi. 62 

 Dresser, Birds of Europe, vii. pi. 516 (summer plumage), pi. 517. 

 figs. 2 & 3 (winter jilumage) . 



The Asiatic Golden Plover passes the Kuriles, the Japanese Islands, 

 and the Loo-Choo Islands in great numbers, both on the spring and 

 on the autumn migrations. Dr. Henderson procured it at Hakodadi 

 in October 1857 (Cassin, Proe. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. 1858, p. 195). 

 There are two examples from Hakodadi in the Swinhoe collection 

 (Swinhoe, Ibis, 1874, p. 162) ; and there are four from Yokohama in 

 the Pryer collection. Captain Rodgers obtained it both on the 

 Bonin Islands and on the Loo-Choo Islands (Cassin, Proe. Acad. 

 Nat. Sc. Philad. 1862, p. 321), and there are four examples from 

 the latter locality in the Pryer collection (Seebohm, Ibis, 1887, 

 p. 180). 



Although the only known breeding-grounds of the Asiatic Golden 

 Plover are on the tundras of Eastern Siberia, it is an accidental 

 straggler to Western Europe, and is recorded as having once been 

 obtained on the British Islands. 



