GLAREOLIDZ—PLOVERS. 247 
on throat and under tail-coverts ; primaries and wuder wing 
feathers nearly black ; secondaries dark brown, with buff outer 
webs; tail-feathers, except central pair, white, tipped and 
subterminally banded with black; bill black, paler at base 
beneath; legs and feet greyish-brown; irides hazel-brown. 
Length about ro inches; culmen 1 ; wing 6 to 6°25; tail 2°6; 
tarsus 2°I. 
Immature Birds: Black on the head faintly indicated, 
or entirely wanting; feathers of both upper and under parts 
more or less mottled with brown. 
Distribution: Inhabits the Canary Islands, Africa north 
of the Sahara, and South-western Asia, occurring casually only 
north of the Mediterranean. 
Habitat: Dry sandy plains. 
Genus CHARADRIUS. 
GOLDEN PLOVER. 
Charadrius pluvialis Zznz. 
Adult Male (Summer): Adove brownish-black, copiously 
spotted with yellow ; primaries blackish ; chin, throat, breast and 
abdomen black, bordered on sides of neck with white ;. axz/- 
faries and under tail-coverts z/zte; bill, legs and feet nearly 
black ; foes three in number ; irides dark hazel-brown. Length 
about 10°5 inches; culmen 1 ; wing 7°5; tail 3; tarsus 1°6. 
Adult Female (Summer): Like the male, but has 
usually less black upon the under parts. 
Adults (in change of plumage): Have the under parts 
black, mixed with white feathers. 
Adult (Winter): Chin and abdomen white, chest and 
breast shaded and obscurely mottled with brown, or greyish- 
brown. 
Young in Autumn: Differ from adults in winter by being 
more distinctly spotted beneath, and in having the abdomen 
also shaded with greyish-brown, and mottled with brown. 
Distribution: Inhabits Northern Europe, and is found 
also in Western Asia as far as the Yenesei. Passes through 
Southern Europe to the Mediterranean region and to Northern 
Africa in autumn; some occurring as far south as Cape Colony 
_ in winter. 
