296 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



movements and habits. It is sby and wary and not easy to approach. 

 Its note is a sharp whistle. It feeds chiefly on marine insects, worms, 

 small molluscs and, to a certain extent, on vegetable matter. 



^GIALITIS ALEXANDRINA (LinniEus). 



KENTISH PLOVEE. 



Charadrius alexandrinus, Linn. Sijst. Nat. i, p. 258 (1766). 



.^gialitis alexandrinus, Blyth, Cat. Mamm. and Birds, Burma, p. 154 



(1875). 

 Charadrius cantianus, Malherbe, Cat. Bais. d'Ois. Ahj. p. 20 (1846) ; 



Lochc, Expl. Set. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 270 (1867). 

 .ffigialites cantianuB, Koenicj, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 271 ; /(/. /. /. 0. 1893, 



p. 84. 

 .ffigialitis alexandrina, Sliarpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiv, p. 275 ; 



Erlangcr J. f. 0. 1900, p. 58. 

 .Sgialitis cantiana, Whitaker, Ibis, 1895, p. 106. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from South Tunisia. 



Forehead and a streak over and behind the eye white ; a band across the 

 forehead, lores, a patch behind the eye, and a large patch on each side of 

 the breast black ; crown and rest of upper plumage pale greyish-brown, 

 becoming darker on the quills and tail ; entire underparts white. 



Iris dark brown ; bill dark brown ; feet slate-grey. 



Total length 7 inches, wing 4-40, culmen -70, tarsus 1-10. 



Adult female differs from the male in lacking the black on the fore- 

 crown and sides of the breast, and in being rather smaller. 



Of the three members of the group found in Tunisia, the present 

 species is the commonest, being met with all the year round through- 

 out the Regency generally. It appears to be equally abundant and 

 generally distributed in Algeria and Marocco, and I have an example 

 of the species from Tripoli, obtained in the month of July. 



The Kentish Plover frequents the sea-shore, particularly stretches 

 of sand and shingle, lake-sides, and the mouths of rivers, and is to be 

 found on the inland Chotts and Sebkas of North-west Africa. Salvin 

 met with the species breeding on most of the salt lakes of the iateriot, 

 and Mr. Gurney and Canon Tristram both record it a& occurring 

 in the Algerian Sahara, the latter writing (Ibis, 1860, p. 78) as 

 follows ; " One of the most universally distributed denizens of the 



