266 CHARADRIID^. 



four inches and three-eighths ; the first quill-feather but 

 very little longer than the second, and the longest in the 

 wing. 



Adult females have the white and black frontal bands 

 narrower than the males, and these markings are also less 

 perfectly defined. 



Young birds of the year want all the decided black 

 markings which distinguish old birds, and the ash-brown 

 feathers of the back and wing- coverts have buff- coloured 

 margins. 



A mounted specimen of the American Killdeer Plover, 

 jEgialitis vocifera, was shewn to Mr. P. L. Sclater in 1862, 

 by Mr. J. E. Wise, who stated that it was shot about a 

 mile from Christchurch, in Hampshire, in April, 1857, and 

 taken in the flesh to Mr. Hart, the bird-stufFer, who sold 

 it to its then owner, Mr. Tanner. In recording the above 

 (Ibis, 1862, pp. 275-277), Mr. Sclater remarked that some 

 corroborative evidence of the bird having been brought to 

 Mr. Hart ''in the flesh " would still be desirable; but he 

 saw nothing very improbable in the alleged facts, as other 

 American species of less extended range and more limited 

 powers of flight have already occurred in this country. The 

 Killdeer Plover ranges from Arctic America to Mexico and 

 Gruatemala, and visits the Bermudas regularly from Novem- 

 ber to March, but there is no other instance on record of 

 its occurrence in Europe. 



