276 CHARADRIID^. 



of Africa to Cape Colony ; and it winters in the northern 

 portions of that continent, and in Asia Minor. 



In Siberia Mr. Seebohm met with it breeding as far east 

 as the tundras near the mouth of the Yenesei, but there he 

 found in the predominance an allied species, the Eastern 

 Golden Plover, CJiaradrius fulvus, Gm. The latter may easily 

 be distinguished from our bird by its smaller size, its more 

 naked tibia, and especially by the colour of the axillaries, 

 which are smoke-firey, and not white as in our bird. The 

 Eastern species has a wide range, from Siberia through East- 

 ern Asia to Polynesia, Australia, and Southern Africa, and as 

 a straggler it has occurred on the Red Sea ; in Malta, twice ; 

 at Malaga, once ; at Lublin in Poland, once ; and in Heligo- 

 land, thrice. In December, 1874, an example was found in 

 Leadenhall Market amongst a lot of Golden Plovers, and 

 was said to come from Norfolk (Ibis, 1875, p. 513), but 

 although there is nothing improbable in this statement, the 

 evidence appears to be hardly strong enough to justify the 

 admission of this species as a British bird. Across the 

 entire continent of North America, ranging southwards in 

 winter, is found Ch. rirginicus, a form which seems to 

 differ from Cli. fulvus in being, on the average, somewhat 

 larger, and in having shorter inner secondaries. To this 

 form has been ascribed a bird killed on Heligoland (Ibis, 

 1877, p. 165) ; and in the autumn of 1882, Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney, jun., found in Leadenhall Market an example 

 which had, no doubt, been killed somewhere in Western 

 Europe (Ibis, 1883, p. 198). To complete the history of 

 the range of our Golden Plover, it must be said that one 

 was shot on the Noursoak Peninsula, Greenland, in breeding- 

 plumage, in the spring of 1871, and Dr. Finsch believed 

 that this species bred in East Greenland ; it has also 

 been said to have been obtained at Godhavn, and in Bellot 

 Straits (Ibis, 1860, p. 166), but perhaps it was not accurately 

 distinguished from its American congener. 



The adult bird in its summer plumage has the beak 

 black ; the irides very dark brown, almost black ; on the 

 forehead a band of white ; top of the head, the nape of 



1i 



