150 Allen's naturallsts LiiiRARV. 



structure is made of dried grass, which, with perhaps a few 

 dead leaves of the dwarf willow, are arranged in a circular 

 saucer-shaped form, about four or five inches across. 



Eggs. — Four in number, very similar to those of the Euro- 

 pean Golden Plover, but slightly smaller, the markings being 

 precisely similar to those of the last-named bird, the black 

 blotches being confluent and generally near the larger end, 

 while the underlying grey markings are scarcely perceptible. 

 Axis, i'85-2'o5 inches; diam., i-27-i*35. 



THE RED-BREASTED DOTTERELS. GENUS 

 OCHTHODROMUS. 



Ochthodromus, Reichenb. Av. Syst. Nat. p. xviii. (1852). 

 Type, O. wilsoiii (Ord). 



In the present genus, and in the Sand-Plovers, there is no 

 specially donned black breast in summer, as in the Grey and 

 Golden Plovers. Of all the species now to be considered, the 

 Dotterel {Eudrojuias 7normelliis) is the only one which has 

 black on the under surface. In the genus Ochthodromus the 

 bill is much stouter than in the smaller species of Sand-Plovers, 

 belonging to the genus yEgialitis, and most of the species 

 have a cinnamon-coloured band across the chest in summer 

 plumage. 



I. THE ASL\TIC DOTTEREL. OCHTHODROMUS ASLVTICUS. 



Charadrius asiaticus, Pallas, Reis. Russ. Reichs. ii. p. 715 



(1773)- 

 ^gialitis asiatica, Dresser, B. Eur. vn. p. 479, pis. 520, fig. i, 



522 (1878) ; Butler, Ibis, 1890, p. 463 ; Southwell, P. Z. S. 



1890, p. 461 ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xxi. (1892). 

 Ochthodromus asiaticus, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 23. 



Adult Male in Summer Plumage. — General colour above brown, 

 without any rufous collar on the hind-neck ; forehead and 

 sides of face white, with no black on the forehead or ear- 

 CUVeiTb'-; UiidersLnfacxs of body white, with a broad band of bright 

 chestnut across the fore-neck, with a narrow black band skirt- 

 ing the lower edge of the rufous neck-band ; quills dark brown, 



