206 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
above the eye fulvous or whitish ; sides of head and neck 
fulvous with brown streaks. Primary coverts and wing quills 
dark brown with indistinct white edges on some feathers. 
Tail dark brown mottled with yellow or whitish. Under part 
sullied white or dull brown, darker and streaked with brown 
on the breast. Wing lining and axillaries gray-brown. 
Summer: All lower parts turn black, except the wing lining 
and axillaries, which do not change. The brown of the upper 
plumage becomes darker, and the yellow spots brighter ; the 
forehead and the streak over the eye become pure white. 
Bill black ; iris dark brown ; legs and feet leaden black. 
Length 9°5; wing 6:5; tail 2°4; tarsus 1°7; bill from 
gape 1:1. 
Distribution —Common in suitable places throughout the 
low-country from end of August to end of April. A migrant, 
breeding in Siberia and wintering over the whole of Southern 
Asia and as far south as Australia. 
Habits —Generally found in flocks on bare fields, grassy 
land round tanks, or sandy pastures near the coast. During 
the wet weather the birds wander about a good deal. Some 
specimens on their first arrival in the Island bear traces of the 
summer plumage, and most birds before they leave have a 
large amount of black on the breast. 
SQUATAROLA HELVETICA (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 236; 
Legge, p. 929). 
The Gray Plover. 
Description.—Winter : Dark brown above, with pale edgings 
to the feathers. Forehead, lores, sides of head, and neck dirty 
white streaked with brown. Wing coverts edged and notched 
with pearly-white ; primary coverts and wing quills black- 
brown, with some white on the webs and shafts. Upper tail 
coverts and tail white with darker bars; the barring more 
marked on the tail. Lower parts white or whitish, streaked 
with brown on the foreneck and breast. 
Summer: The lower parts become black from the chin to 
the upper abdomen ; lower abdomen, flanks, thighs, and lower 
tail coverts pure white. The upper parts are brown-black 
marked and barred with pure white. 
