Vv CHARADRIIDAE 273 
the long-billed Oreophilus ruficollis of South America from Peru 
and Argentina to Patagonia and the Falklands, are nearly allied 
forms; while the rufous New Zealand Charadrius (?) obscwrus 
apparently somewhat resembles the Dotterel in its habits and eggs. 
Aegialitis hiaticola, the Ringed Plover, Sand-Lark, or Stone- 
runner, mistakenly called the “ Ring Dotterel,”’ which is common 
on the British coasts and even inland, extends from Smith’s 
Sound eastwards to Bering Strait, and migrates to South Africa, 
North India, or accidentally, Austraha. It breeds as far south as 
the Atlantic Islands, North Africa, and Turkestan. The plumage 
is light brown, with white forehead, post-ocular streak, upper 
neck, alar bar, outer 
rectrices, and under 
surface ; the crown, 
lores, cheeks, and a 
collar—broader in 
front—being black. 
The young lack the 
black crown. The 
habits and “ peep- 
ing” cry hardly 
require description. 
When nesting on — Hen 
the warrens of the Ke 2 
Eastern Counties it aa ~_ @-- 
is called the Stone- ae arate ae 
hatch, because it Fic, 57—Ringed Plover. Aegialitis hiaticola. x 
there lays its black-spotted drab eggs in a hol paved with small 
stones. de. cwronica, the Little Ringed Ployer, which strays to 
Britain, the Firoes, and Iceland, breeds on ‘Anland waters from 
Scandinavia to Japan; reaching southwards to North Africa, 
Turkestan, and China, and on migration to the Gaboon, Mozam- 
bique, Ceylon, and New Guinea. It is Valea from the 
last species by the shafts of all the primaW®fes, except the outer 
one, being dusky. Ae. cantiana, the Kentish Plover, which still 
nests in Kent and Sussex, occupies Europe—though very locally— 
North Africa, and Central Asia to China and Japan ; it compara- 
tively seldom breeds inland, and is found in winter as far as South 
Africa, India, and Australia. The collar is incomplete in front, the 
female has no black crown, while the black legs distinguish it from 
VOL. IX At 
i 
