248 A HANDBOOK OF EUROPEAN BIRDS. 
Habitat: High mountain@%t moorland districts, frequent- 
ing the sea-coast in winter. 
Note.—The Eastern Golden Plover, C. /u/vus, distinguished by its smoky 
axillary plumes, has occurred sometimes in Europe, including twice in 
the British Isles. 
Genus SQUATAROLA. 
GREY PLOVER. 
Squatarola helvetica (Zzzz.). 
Adult Male (Summer) : Forehead, superciliary stripe, 
sides of neck, thighs, vent, upper and under tail-coverts white, 
or nearly so ; general colour of upper parts including tail, zv/zze 
barred with black and brown ; wing-quills dark brown, marked 
with white on inner webs; sides of head, most of under parts 
and axillaries black; bill, legs, feet and a small hind toe 
black ; irides hazel. Length about 10°5 inches ; culmen 1°2 ; 
wing 7°3; tail 2°75; tarsus 1°7. 
Adult Female (Summer): Back bars much browner ; 
white parts clouded and mottled with brown, under parts 
browner. 
Adult after autumn moult : “ Upper parts of the male 
are brown narrowly barred with white, whilst the under parts 
are white streaked on the sides of the neck and breast and on 
the flanks with brown. Inthe female the white bars of the 
head and back are reduced to obscure pale ends to the feathers, 
and the streaks on the under parts are more abundant and less 
clearly defined” (Seebohm). 
Young in first plumage: Above dark brown, spotted 
with yellow ; under parts very similar to adults in winter, but 
more suffused with buff, and more broadly and copiously 
streaked. In this plumage they somewhat resemble the Golden 
Plover, but may easily be distinguished by the black axillaries, — 
which are present in Sgzataro/a at all ages. 
Distribution: Breeds in the extreme north of Siberia, 
occurring southward on migration through a great part of Asia, 
through Europe to northern half of Africa, and is also found in 
North America. 
Habitat : Similar to that of Charadrius pluviatis, but is more 
partial to the sea-coast. 
