KENTISH PLOVER. 25 



CHARADRIUS CANTIANUS. 

 KENTISH PLOVER. 



(Plate 26.) 



Charadrius cantianus, Lath. Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. Ixvi (1801) ; et auctortun pluri- 

 morum — Gould, Jerdon, {Bonaparte), {Bli/tli), (Dresser), {SauTiders), &c. 

 . Charadrius albifrons, Wolf ^- Meyer, Voy. Deutschl. i. p. 180 (1805). 

 Charadrius littoralis, Bcchst. Xatury. Deutschl. iv. p. 430 (1809). 

 yEgialitis cantianus (^Lath.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 558. 



Hiaticula elegans, I 



TT- i- 1 *• /T tT.\ [ Licht. Nomencl. Av. -a.v-i (l^b-^). 



Huxticula cantiana {Lath.), I r v. y 



^gialophilus cantianus {Lath.), Gould, Handb. B. Austr. ii. p. 234 (1865). 



The Kentish Plover was discovered near the end of the last century by 

 Mr. Boys, of Sandwich, who sent an example to Latham in 1787, which 

 was figured by Lewin in his ' Birds of Great Britain^ (vi. p. 44, pi. 186), 

 published in 1800. In 1791 Mr. Boys sent two other examples to Latham, 

 who described it under the name of Charadrius cantianus in the Supple- 

 ment to his 'Index Ornithologicus,^ published in 1801. It is one of the 

 most local of British birds, and has only occurred very sparingly on the 

 south and east coasts of England, as far north as Flamborough Head in 

 Yorkshire, and as far west as Cornwall. Its only breeding-places in this 

 country appear to be on the coasts of Kent and Sussex; but even there it 

 is a rare bird, and is fast disappearing before the inroads of collectors. 

 It does not appear ever to have been observed in Scotland ; and in Ireland 

 it is only known as a rare straggler. In the Channel Islands it is much 

 commoner, and breeds there in considerable numbers. 



So far as is known, the Kentish Plover only breeds on the margins of 

 salt-lakes or on the sea-shore ; nevertheless its breeding-range extends 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is a regular summer visitor to the 

 coasts of South Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and France. It is 

 a resident on the coasts of Spain, Portugal, the Azores, Canaries, jNIadeira, 

 and on both shores of the IVIediterranean. To the salt-marshes on the 

 steppes of Southern Russia, the shores of the Caspian, the margins of the 

 salt-lakes of Turkestan, South Dauria, and Mongolia it is a summer 

 visitor. The Kentish Plovers which breed in the northernmost portion 

 of their range in Europe appear to winter on the coasts of Africa, where 

 they have been met with as far south as the Cape Colony. The Asiatic 

 birds winter on the Mekrau coast, in India, Ceylon, Burma, the Malay 

 peninsula, China, and Japan. 



The Kentish Plover has two very near allies : one of these (C. peronii) 

 is a resident in Formosa and the coast of South China ; it differs from 



