CHARADRIID.E. 



533 



THE LESSER GOLDEN I'LOVER. 

 Charadrius fulvus, J. E. (imciin. 



There are two slightly different forms of this species, oneof wliich 

 is found in the eastern part of Asia while the other inhabits North 

 America ; and inasmuch as individuals referred to both of these 

 have probably been obtained in the British Islands, the above name 

 has been adopted as the least misleading. An example of the 

 Asiatic race was found in Leadenhall Market among a lot of 

 Golden Plovers in December 1874, and was said to have come 

 from Norfolk ; but this alone, however probable, did not suffice 

 to procure the admission of the species to the British list. In 

 the autumn of 1882 Mr. J. H. Gurney jun. found another bird — 

 this time of the American form — in the same market ; and Mr. 

 J. G. Millais has recorded (Zool. 1886, p. 26) the occurrence of a 

 second American specimen in Perthshire, on August 3rd 1883. 

 On November 26th 1887, Mr. Millais received from Stennis in 

 Orkney, /// the flesh, one of the Asiatic race ; a fact which, con- 

 sidering its importance, might well have been recorded in ' The 

 Zoologist' or some scientific journal, and not merely in the 

 columns of ' The Field ' newspaper. 



A bird ascribed to the American form was obtained on Heligo- 

 land in December 1847 by Mr. Giitke. Of the Asiatic race the 

 collection of that distinguished ornithologist contains no fewer than 

 three examples, all captured in summer ; while two have been taken 

 in Malta, one (in the possession of Lord Lilford) at Malaga in 

 Spain, and one at Lublin in Poland. This race breeds on the tundras 

 from the Yenesei to Bering Sea and as far south as the moist 

 plains of Mongolia, migrating in winter to China, Japan, India, the 

 Malay region, Australia, New Zealand and Polynesia ; it also visits 

 the Prybilof Islands and the coast of Alaska, while, as might be 

 expected, gradations are found in the Pacific which lead insensibly 

 to the American form. The latter, which the ornithologists of the 

 United States used to call Ch. viriiinici/s, and now term Ch. ilominiciis 

 of P. L. S. Miiller, is said to be characterized— at the extreme of its 

 variation — by its larger size on average, relatively shorter inner 

 secondaries, and less brilliant yellow tint. It nests on the ' barren 

 grounds ' from Alaska to 1 )avis Strait, as well as in the norihern 



