CEYLON RAILS, WADERS, GULLS, AND TERNS. 207 
Immature birds are spotted with golden buff above like a 
Golden Plover. 
Bill black ; iris dark hazel ; legs and feet gray-black. 
Length 12 ; wing 8 ; tail 2-9 ; tarsus 1°8 ; bill from gape 1°3. 
Distribution —An occasional and irregular winter visitor, 
specimens having been obtained at various points on the coast 
from Jaffna to Colombo. Breeds in the far north, wintering 
chiefly near the sea in India and Burma. 
Habits —Generally found in small flocks frequenting sandy 
beaches, tidal flats, and the shores of lagoons. In other 
respects the habits are similar to those of the Golden Plover. 
ANGIALITIS GEOFFROYI (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 237 ; 
Legge, p. 939). 
The Large Sand Plover. 
Description.—Winter : Upper plumage brown, the feathers 
with slightly paler edges and narrow darker shaft-stripes ; the 
forehead and eyebrow white or whitish ; a dark brown band 
from the lores passes under the eye to the ear coverts ; the 
greater wing coverts with white tips ; the primary coverts and 
wing quills brown, with a little white on the outer webs of the 
inner primaries and on the tips and shafts of the secondaries. 
The lateral tail coverts are edged with white ; the tail feathers 
brown tipped with white, the outermost pair being almost 
entirely white. The lower parts are white, with a more or 
less perfect band of brown across the breast. 
Summer: The upper plumage turns paler brown with a 
rufous tinge. The forehead is white below and black above ; 
a broad black stripe runs from the bill through the lores to the 
ear coverts ; the crown, sides of neck, hind neck, and a band 
across the upper breast pale rufous. 
Bill black ; iris brown ; legs and feet grayish-green, gray, or 
yellowish-black. 
Length 8°5; wing5°5; tail 2°2; tarsus1°5; billfrom gape 1°1. 
Distribution —A migrant found on the coasts of the dry 
zone from Mannar round by Jaffna to Hambantota. Breeds 
in Japan and Eastern China, wintering on the shores of the 
Indian Ocean from South Africa to Australia. 
