264 CHARADRIID.E. 



when the wing is extended, a very visible band. These 

 points should suffice to distinguish the two species at any 

 age. 



The Little Ringed Plover also exhibits some difference 

 in its habits, preferring the sides of rivers rather than the 

 shores of the sea. On this point the late Mr. Hoy, who had 

 attended to the distinguished peculiarities of this species on 

 the Continent, remarks, " The Little Plover appears to be 

 very rarely found on the sea coast ; but frequents in pre- 

 ference the banks of rivers, where it breeds. It lays its 

 eggs on the sand, not a particle of grass, or other material 

 being used. It is very partial to sand banks forming 

 islands, which are often met with in some of the larger 

 rivers of the Continent. It may also frequently be found 

 during the breeding-season upon those large extents of sand 

 which are met with at some little distance from the borders 

 of rivers, overgrown in part with a coarse wiry grass." The 

 eggs are generally four in number, and measure 1*15 

 by '85 in., of a pale yellowish stone colour, with numerous 

 small spots of dark brown, without the bold blotches found 

 in the egg of the Ringed Plover. 



The food is similar to that of the preceding species. 

 The usual note is rendered by Naumann as dia or dea, 

 uttered very quickly, but the love call is a much more 

 prolonged trill. 



It is somewhat remarkable that the Little Ringed Plover 

 should so rarely be obtained on our shores, inasmuch as it is 

 a common species in summer in the northern portions of the 

 Continent. It breeds in Scandinavia, Russia, the greater 

 part of Germany, and in Belgium, although in Holland it 

 appears to be a bird of passage ; and it nests regularly in 

 some parts of France, Spain, Italy, and along all the northern 

 side of the Mediterranean. Principally a winter visitant to 

 North Africa, it descends that continent to the Gaboon on 

 the west, and to Mozambique on the east ; and has also 

 occurred in Mauritius. The most northern locality on 

 record is probably Ust Zylma, on the Petchora, where a 

 solitary specimen was obtained by Messrs. Seebohm and 



