GLAREOLIDA—PLOVERS. 249 
Genus AEGIALITIS. 
RINGED PLOVER OR RINGED DOTTEREL. 
AX gialitis hiaticula (Zznz.). 
Adult (Summer): Forehead, space between the eye and 
bill and sides of face black ; forehead and a patch behind the 
eye white; chin, throat and a broad ring round the neck 
white ; across the chest a broad black band, narrowing at the 
sides and meeting behind below the white collar ; rest of under 
parts white : crown and upper parts generally pale hair-brown ; 
primaries dark brown; the zg when opened showing a white 
bar across it; bill orange at base, black at tip; legs and feet 
orange ; claws black ; irides brown. Length about 7 inches ; 
culmen 0°6 ; zing 5; tail 2°43; tarsus I. 
The very old female is scarcely distinguishable from the 
male. 
Young in first plumage: Have those parts which are 
black in the adult, coloured brown like the back; most of 
feathers of upper parts with very narrow pale terminal margins ; 
bill uniform black. 
Distribution: Breeds in the north of Europe and Asia, 
ranging southward over Southern Europe and Africa on migra- 
tion, and in Asia sometimes occurs in winter as far south as the 
north of India. 
Habitat: Shingly beaches, mud flats, margins of lakes, or 
marshes inland. 
Note.—The Ringed Plovers inhabiting and passing through the British 
Islands and the Western European coasts appear to constitute a smaller 
race than those found elsewhere. 
LITTLE RINGED PLOVER. v 
ZEgialitis curonica (Gme/.). 
Adult: Resembles Z. Avaticula, but “the white on the pri- 
martes ts confined to the shaft of the first primary ; the yellow 
‘on the bill is confined to the base of the lower mandible, and 
the legs and feet are dull yellow instead of orange-yellow ; 
