198 Charadrius virginicus in LeadenJiall Market. 



2. That the cause of migration is the attraction of a plen- 

 tiful food-supply. 



3. That a period of 2000 years has sufficed for firmly estab- 

 lishing a migration. 



4. That there are some exceptions to Mr. Seebohm^s law 

 that " every bird breeds in the coldest regions of its migra- 

 tions •'•' (' Siberia in Europe/ p. 244). 



5. That the country in which a migratory bird breeds is not 

 necessarily its original home. 



XXII. — On the Occurrence o/Charadrius virginicus in Leaden- 

 hull Market, London. By J. H. Gurney^ Jun.^ F.Z.S. 



On the 10th of November I bought, in Leadenhall Market, 

 for the sum of fifteen pence, an American Golden Plover, 

 Charadrius virginicus, a female by dissection, and apparently 

 adult. The salesman was somewhat vague as to where it 

 came from, first giving " Norway " as a locality, then " Hol- 

 land. '•' I should never like, from experience, to believe in 

 any Leadenhall '' locality " unless I actually saw tlie box, 

 with the bird in it, unpacked ; but that it was killed somewhere 

 in Europe there can be very little doubt. On the 10th, and 

 again a few days later, I looked to see if there were any 

 American Grouse in the market, with which it might possibly 

 have come over ; but there were not any. The great simi- 

 larity of this species to the Asiatic Golden Plover [C.fulvus), 

 which is a somewhat smaller bird, has induced some orni- 

 thologists to think they are the same ; but, in the opinion of 

 Mr.. H. E. Dresser, Mr. H. Seebohm, and other authorities, 

 they are perfectly distinct. On comparing my example with 

 a series of C.fulvus in the collection of Mr. Seebohm, they 

 all proved to be smaller, while, on the other hand, the mea- 

 surements, and the plumage also, in every respect, fitted 

 exactly with a C. virginicus in Mr, Osbert Salvin^s collection 

 marked "^^ female, Medellin, U. S. of Colombia,''-' and quite 

 sufficiently well with other specimens in the same collection. 

 In 'The Ibis^ for 1875 (p. 513) Mr. Dresser records, and 



