534 LESSER GOLDEN PLOVER. 



part of Greenland ; while on passage it traverses Canada and the 

 United States, seldom occurring on the coast of California, but 

 rather inclining to the east of the Rocky Mountains. In Septem- 

 ber and October large flocks often arrive in the Bermudas, the 

 birds being extremely fat and highly appreciated for the table ; 

 while on Antigua, Martinique, Barbadoes, and other West Indian 

 Islands, they are sometimes so tame or exhausted that they can 

 be knocked down with sticks and stones. The migrations extend 

 through tropical America to Buenos Ayres on the east side and 

 Chili on the west. 



A nest of the Asiatic bird which Mr. Seebohm found on the 

 Yenesei, was upon a piece of turfy land overgrown with moss and 

 lichen, and was a mere hollow in the ground, lined with broken 

 stalks of reindeer moss ; the eggs, 4 in number, resemble those 

 of the Golden Plover, but are slightly smaller; Mr. MacFarlane, 

 in his notes respecting the nidification of the American form on the 

 barren grounds, gives the average measurements as i"9 by i"3 in. 

 The habits and food of this bird are also similar to those of its 

 congener ; but its note, according to Mr. Seebohm, is more like 

 that of the Grey Plover, being a plaintive kd, sometimes kl-ee, and 

 often the treble kl-cc-ko. 



In the breeding-season this species only differs from the Golden 

 Plover in being smaller and in having the axillaries smoke-grey to 

 their bases instead of white ; the above distinctions existing at all 

 seasons of the year. The winter-plumage, however, according to 

 Mr. Seebohm, " differs widely from that of the Golden Plover, 

 though it resembles very closely that of the Grey Plover, the 

 spotted feathers of the upper parts being replaced by feathers 

 having yellow margins. Young in first plumage resemble on their 

 upper parts adults in spring-plumage, except that the tail-feathers, 

 instead of being dark brown with transyerse bars of pale brown, 

 are uniform dark brown with marginal yellow spots." Average 

 length of the Asiatic race 9 in., wing 6-5 in. ; of the American 9-5, 

 wing 7 in. 



It has not been considered necessary to give an illustration of 

 this species. 



