100 SQUATAROLA HELVETICA. 
SQUATAROLA HELVETICA (Linneus). 
GREY PLOVER. 
[§ 3364. One—Taimyr River, N. lat. 74°, 1 July, 1848. 
“ Middff.” From Dr. von Middendorff, through Dr. 
Baldamus, 1861. 
Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 398, tab. xxxix. fig. 2 
This egg from the discoverer of the first nests of this species, and certified 
by a label in his own handwriting, was exhibited by me at a meeting of the 
Zoological Society on the 10th of December, 1861, and subsequently figured in 
its ‘Proceedings’ (wt supra). For many years it had been confessedly one of 
the rarest and most sought for by collectors. Until the results of Dr. von 
Middendorff’s travels were published, nothing was really known of the breeding- 
ground of this bird, for it had long been evident that Sir John Richardson 
must have been misinformed in assigning (Fauna Bor.-Am. ii. p. 870) it to 
Pennsylvania‘. Dr. von Middendortf (Sib. Reise, 11. i. p. 2097) states that he 
found it breeding on the Byrrangaé Mountains (lat. 74°) as well as on the 
Boganida (lat. 71°), and that it was much less common than Charadrius 
pluvialis, No bird of this species was observed before the 21st May, but on 
the 26th of June he found a hen sitting on her nest, which was a collection 
of dry leaves and lichens, containing four eggs. He does not say how many 
nests he obtained, but remarks that the egys generally measure about 54 
millim. by 36 mm. (the biggest he saw being 56 mm. and the smallest 48 mm.), 
and thus shorter than some eggs of C. pluvialis—but it was still 36 mm. in 
width, while the eggs of C. pluvalis are not more than 33mm. The colouring 
also, he goes on to say, offers no distinctive characteristic, and this I believe 
may still be said, notwithstanding the number of Grey Plovers’ eggs since 
* Richardson was misled by Alexander Wilson, who, figuring and describing 
this species as the “ Black-hbellied Plover” (Am. Orn. vii. pl. lvii. tig. 4, p. 41), tells 
of its appearing in Pennsylvania in April and breeding there. ‘Though he does 
not quote “* Grey Plover” as a synonym, he could hardly have been ignorant of 
that name, which is also one applied in parts of North America to a very distinct 
bird, his ‘“‘ Bartram’s Sandpiper,” of Plover-like habits, given by him as a new 
species (tom. cit. pl. lix. fig. 2, p. 63) whose breeding-place he had not discovered. 
This, the Actitwrus longicauda of most modern ornithologists (cf. infra, p. 180), 
breeds abundantly in Pennsylvania (Warren, ‘ Birds of Pennsylv.’ ed. 2, p. 98), 
and thus, as suggested by Dr. Brewer (Water-Birds of North America, i. p. 135), 
the confusion arose. 
? By accident, misprinted “290.” 
