30G 



LIMICOL.*:. 



visitor on mij^ration to tlie Japanese Islands. In October 1857 Dr. 

 Heudcrson visited Ilakodadi, during the cruise of tlie * Portsmouth/ 

 and procured, on the shores of a salt-water ci'cek a bird which is 

 recorded as being indistinguishable from the European Dotterel 

 (Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. 1858, p. 195). 



The breeding-range of the Common Dotterel extends from the 

 British Islands, across Northern Europe and Siberia. 



306. CHARADRIUS MINOR. 

 (LITTLE RINGED PLOVER.) 

 Cfiaradritcs minor, Wolf and Meyer, Viig. Deutschland, i. p. 182 (1805). 



The Ringed Plovers arc a widely spread and numerous section of 

 the genus. They combine the following characters : — white axil- 

 larics, do hind toe, white belly, and a dark subtcrminal band across 

 the tail. There are two Ringed Plovers in Japan. The Little 

 Ringed Plover is a small species (length of M'ing from carpal joint 



Head of Charadrius minor. Natural size. 



about 1^ inches), with a slightly graduated tail (outer feathers less 

 than a quarter of an inch shorter than the central ones). 



Figures : Dresser, Birds of Europe, vii. pi. 524. 



The Little Ringed Plover breeds in all the Japanese Islands. It 



