EASTERN GOLDEN PLOVER. 

 Chakadkiid^.] 



CHARADRIUS FULVUS, J. F. Gmelin. 



Explanation of Plate. 



Figure 1. Yenesai, lat. 69^°, July 1877; H. Seebohm coll. Natural History Museum, 

 South Kensington. 

 „ 2. Yenesai, lat. 71 i°, Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. 



Only two occurrences of this species in the British Islands are recorded : an 

 example said to have come from Norfolk was found in Leadenhall Market in 

 1874, and another is recorded as having occurred in Orkney in 1887. 



Mr. H. Seebohm, who obtained the only authentic eggs of this species known to 

 naturalists, writes*: — "The Asiatic Golden Plover breeds on the tundras of 

 Eastern Siberia, from the valley of the Yenesay to the Pacific. It passes through 

 Japan, South Siberia, and Mongolia on migration, and Avinters in India, the 

 Burma peninsula, China, the islands of the Malay archipelago, Australia, and the 

 islands of the Pacific Ocean. It has been known to stray as far as New Zealand 

 in the east, and to the Mekran coast, Malta, Algeria, Poland, and Heligoland in 

 the west 



" The Asiatic Golden Plover, like its cousin the Common Golden Plover, is 

 a bird of the tundi-a, frequenting the vast solitudes that are such a characteristic 

 feature of the Arctic regions. It spends its winters in southern latitudes, and 

 arrives on these Arctic tundras as soon as the south wind melts the snow and calls 

 the slumbering country into life. In its habits it very closely resembles its near 

 ally in Europe. It walks and runs about the ground, or wades into the shallows 

 in search of its food, which consists principally of insects, worms, and slugs in 

 summer, and of various small marine animals, insects, &c. in winter. Its flight is 

 very similar to that of the Golden Plover, and it possesses the same habit of goino- 

 in flocks or small parties. 



" I first made the acquaintance of the Asiatic Golden Plover on the Arctic 



* ' History of British Birds,' yol. iii. pp. 40-42. 



