Charadeiid^.] 



LITTLE RINGED PLOVER. 



iEGIALlTIS CURONICA (J. F. Gmelin). 



Explanation of Plate. 



Figure 1. Denmark. In collection of F. Poynting 



„ 2. Austria, May 10, 1888. 



„ 3. Hungary, June 3, 1889. 



„ 4. Austria, May 10, 1888. 



„ 5. Brandenburg, Prussia, June 11, 1888. . 



In collection of H. Massey, Esq. 



The Little Ringed Plover is a very rare accidental visitor to England. 



Weiting of this species, Mr. Howard Saunders says * : — " It is somewhat remark- 

 able that the Little Ringed Plover should so seldom visit us, inasmuch as the bird 

 has been recorded from the Fseroes, and is said by Mr. B. Grondal to be a 

 wanderer to Iceland, while, according to Bogdanow, it occurs sparingly as far 

 north as 64-66° N. lat. in Russia and Asiatic Siberia. It owes its specific name 

 to its occurrence in Courland, and it breeds abundantly in Poland and Germany, 

 less plentifully in Scandinavia and Denmark, and seldom in Holland and Belgium, 

 where localities suited to its tastes are wanting. It does not affect the open sea- 

 coast, preferring expanses of sandy soil by inland lakes or large rivers, and these 

 it finds in some parts of France, the Spanish Peninsula, Italy, the south of Europe 

 generally, and Northern Africa. In Asia, besides Siberia as already mentioned, 

 it nests in Turkestan up to an altitude of 4000 feet, China, and Japan ; it visits 

 India as far as Ceylon during the cold season, and ranges southward to tlie 

 Moluccas and New Guinea. In Africa it has been recorded from as far down as 

 Mozambique on the east and the Gaboon on the west." 



Mr. H. Seebohm writes f : — " The Little Ringed Plover is perhaps most 

 active in the pairing-season. When Dixon was in Algeria in the spring of 1882 

 he noticed that the male often soared into the air like a Lark, and flew about for 

 some considerable time, uttering his peculiar love-song, soaring higher and higher 



* ' Manual of British Birds,' pp. 525, 526. 

 t ' History of British Birds,' vol. iii. p. 18. 



