CHARADRIID/F, 



529 



THE KILLDEER PLOVER. 



A^(;iALiTis vociFERA (LinriKus). 



In 1862 a mounted example of this American bird was identified 

 by Mr. P. L. Sclater, who was informed by Mr. J. R. Wise that it 

 had been killed in April 1857 near Christchurch in Hampshire; but 

 as corroborative evidence of this was wanting and the specimen had 

 changed hands during the interval, I did not consider it advisable to 

 include the species in the 4th Edition of ' Yarrell,' while later inves- 

 tigation has led me to doubt the accuracy of the assertion. Subse- 

 quently, as stated in the preface to the above work, Mr. Jenkinson 

 shot a bird, which I afterwards examined, on January 15th 1885. at 

 Tresco in the Scilly Islands (Zool. 1885, p. 113). 



The Killdeer Plover has not yet been recognized on the mainland 

 of Europe, though, according to Mr. J- V. Johnson, it has been 

 obtained on the island of Madeira. In America it is widely dis- 

 tributed, breeding southward from the plains of the Saskatchewan 

 (where it arrives about April 20th) as far as Mexico : its migrations 

 extending to the Bermudas, the West Indies generally, and tropical 

 America down to Colombia. In California and the southern portion 

 of the United States it is resident or only partially migratory ; while 

 even as far north as Long Island it has been met with up to the end 

 of November and often makes its re-appearance quite early in the 



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