1919-] Birih of the Canary Islands. 749 



^gialitis dubius curonicus. Lesser Ringed Plover. 



CJiaradrius curonicus Gnieliu, Syst. Nat. i. pt. 2, 1789, 

 p. 692 — Type locality : Cuvonia, i. e. Courlaiid. 



It is difficult to know exactly liow to define the status of 

 the Lesser Ringed Plover in the Canary Islands. From 

 the present available data I can only consider it to be a 

 Rare Visitor Avhich has been known to breed. It is quite 

 {)Ossible that it is a Bird of Passage in very small numbers, 

 but until 1910 it bad been entirely overlooked and had never 

 heen previously recorded by anyone ! 



The only bird which I have ever seen I shot on the 

 19th o£ January, 1910 (bill 13 mm., wing 117 mm.) in 

 Gran Canaria^ as it flew from the water-tanks beyond the 

 golf-links — a very favourite j)lace for small waders when the 

 tide is up. 



The following year (April 1911) Mr. P. R. Pittard found 

 two eggs laid in a barranco more than a mile from the sea 

 (close to where I had shot my bird in 1910), which he for- 

 warded to me in England (Ibis, 1912, p. 582). There is no 

 doubt whatever that they are the eggs of the Lej^ser Ringed 

 Plover. They were identified by the Rev. F. C. H. Jourdain, 

 and other oologists have since examined them and concur 

 in the identification. This clutch is now in the British 

 Museum. 



Range. The Lesser Ringed Plover breeds in the greater 

 part of Europe and Asia extending east to Ja|)an, and is also 

 said to be resident in, and to nest in^ north-west Africa 

 (B. O. U. List of Brit. Birds, 1915, p. 246) north of 

 the Sahara. It winters in Africa and India and on the 

 Sunda Islands (Miss Jackson and Hartert, Ibis, 1915, 

 pp. 532-533). 



iEgialitis alexandrina alexandrina. Kentish Plover. 



Churadrius akxandrhms Linn. Syst. Nat. 10th cd. 1758, 

 p. 150 — Type locality : Egypt. 



The Kentish Plover is a Partial Resident in the Canary 

 Islands. 



