390 CHA^RADRIDiE. 



THE LITTLE RmGED PLOVER. 



CHARADRIUS MINOR. 



A band reaching from eye to eye across the head, continued above the base oi 

 the bill in front, and passing backwards through the eye and gorget, meeting 

 behind, black ; neck, collar, rump, and under plumage, white ; back of the 

 head and rest of the upper plumage ash-grey ; bill black ; orbits yellow ; feet 

 flesh colour. Length five inches. Eggs yellowish white, blotched with black 

 and brown. 



A VERY rare visitor to the British Isles ; but not unfre- 

 qiient in Germany, and the south of Europe, as far as 

 Italy, where it inhabits the banks of rivers rather than 

 the sea-side. Its nidification and general habits resemble 

 those of the larger species. 



THE GREY PLO^rER. 



SQUATAROLA CINEREA. 



Winter— Yovehend, throat, and under plumage, white, spotted on the neck 

 and flanks with grey and brown ; upper plumage dusky brown, mottled with 

 white and ash colour ; long axillary feathers black or dusky ; tail white, 

 barred with brown and tipped with reddish ; bill black ; irides dusky ; feet 

 blackish grey. Summer — Lore, neck, breast, belly, and flanks, black, bounded 

 by white ; upper plumage and tail black and white. Length eleven and a 

 half inches. Eggs olive, spotted with black. 



Many of the Waders agree in wearing, during winter, 

 plumage in a great measure of a different hue from that 

 which characterizes them in summer ; and, as a general 

 rule, the winter tint is lighter than that of summer. This 

 change is, in fact, but an extension of the law whicli 

 clothes several of the quadrupeds with a dusky or a snowy 

 fur in accordance with the season. The Grey Plover, as 

 seen in England, well deserves its name, for, as it frequents 

 our shores in the winter alone, it is only known to us as a 

 bird grey above and white below. But in summer the under 

 plumage is decidedly black, and in this respect it bears a 

 close resemblance to the Golden Plover, with which, in 

 spite of the presence of a rudimentary fourth toe, it is 

 closely allied. My friend, the Rev. W. S. Hore, informs 

 me that he has seen them in ;N"orfolk wearing the full black 



