338 Mr. P. R. Lowe on Coloration as a Factor in 



Compare this colour-pattern with the colour-pattern so 

 very characteristic of the downy nestlings of the Redshank 

 association — the Tringinse, — and you observe at once a 

 marked distinction. In the one case you have a spangled 

 colour-pattern, in the other a striped one. I might add that 

 in both series you have specific colour-tones superimposed on 

 the fundamental subfamily colour-pattern. Incidentally, too, 

 we glean that the Snipes are an offshoot from the Eroliine 

 branch, while the Phalaropes are closely allied to the 

 Redshank branch, as I have endeavoured to demonstrate 

 by means of this diagram which I have drawn. 



Here, again, in this box we have a series of downy young 

 whose colour-pattern seems to be absolutely diagnostic of 

 the Ringed Plover group or of the genus j^gialitis. This is 

 what may be called a "" True Plover '^ colour-pattern. Perhaps 

 I can better explain what I mean by referring you to this 

 diagram, which is a rough attempt to depict in a sort of 

 bird's-eye view the phylogenetic relationships of the whole 

 group of Waders. You will notice, for instance, that I have 

 represented the main Limicoline stem as dividing into two 

 branches — a Pluvialine branch and a Scolopacine branch. 

 In the members of the Pluvialine or True Plover branch, we 

 find the end of the bill, both in adult and nestling, ending in 

 a distinct dertrum. In the Scolopacine branch there is no 

 hint of a dertrum either in young or old. Corresponding 

 with these distinctions, the colour-pattern characteristic of 

 the nestlings of either group presents a well-differentiated 

 colour-picture. 



The Pluvialine branch, you will also notice, splits again 

 into the Charadriinae and the Vanellinse (Lapwings and 

 Yv'attled Lapwings), and if you compare the nestling young 

 of these two groups you will again tind a distinctive colour- 

 pattern. For instance, the Ringed Plovers (^gialitis) are 

 differentiated from the Vanellinse by not presenting a con- 

 spicuous pectoral band and by other minor points which I 

 cannot now dwell on. But here you have two or three 

 examples of the Vanelline subfamily. 



