408 CHARADRIID.E. 



the irides brown ; tlie forehead white, the same colour being 

 continued over the eye and a little beyond it over the ear- 

 coverts ; above the white on the forehead is a patch of black, 

 which extends only to the edge of the white, not to the eye- 

 lid ; top of the head and the occiput rich reddish brown ; 

 from the base of the beak to the eye a black streak ; ear- 

 coverts also black ; nape of the neck white ; back, scapulars, 

 wing-coverts, tertials, upper tail-coverts, and the base of the 

 tail-feathers ash-brown or light hair-brown ; the wing-prima- 

 ries dusky black ; the distal part of the shafts of the quill- 

 feathers white ; the two middle tail-feathers the longest, and 

 dusky black at the end ; the two outer tail-feathers on each 

 side wholly white ; chin, cheeks, sides of the neck and the 

 throat, pure white ; just in advance of the carpal joint, or 

 point of the wing, on each side, is a patch of black, not con- 

 tinued round the front ; the breast, belly, vent, and under 

 tail-coverts, white ; under wing-coverts and axillary plume 

 white ; legs, toes, and claws, like the beak, black at all 

 ages. 



Whole length almost seven inches. From the carpal joint 

 to the end of the wing, four inches and one quarter : the wing 

 pointed ; the first quill-feather the longest. 



In the adult female the dark colour on the head and neck 

 is less decidedly black, and occupies a rather smaller surface. 



Young birds of the year have no black colour above the 

 white on the forehead ; and the lore, as well as the ear- 

 coverts and the patch in front of the bend of the wing, are 

 dusky brown ; the beak, legs, and toes, black. 



The illustration at the head of this subject represents an 

 adult male killed in summer, and a young bird of the year 

 killed in autumn. 



