CHARADRIIDAE 



^71 



the long-billed Oreophilus ruficollis of South America from Peru 

 and Argentina to Patagonia and the Falklands, are nearly allied 

 forms; while the rufous New Zealand Charadrius (?) obscurus 

 apparently somewhat resembles the Dotterel in its habits and eggs. 

 Aegialitis hiaticola, the Einged Plover, Sand-Lark, or Stone- 

 rimner, mistakenly called the " Eing Dotterel," which is common 

 on the British coasts and even inland, extends from Smith's 

 Sound eastwards to Bering Strait, and migrates to South Africa, 

 North India, or accidentally, Australia. It breeds as far south as 

 the Atlantic Islands, North Africa, and Turkestan. The plumage 

 is light brown, with white forehead, post-ocular streak, upper 

 neck, alar bar, outer 

 rectrices, and under 

 surface ; the crown, 

 lores, cheeks, and a 

 collar broader in 

 front being black. 

 The young lack the 

 black crown. The 

 habits and " peep- 

 ing " cry hardly 

 require description. 

 When nesting on 

 the warrens of the 

 Eastern Counties it 

 is called the Stone- 

 hatch, because it 



Fig. 57. Ringed Plover. 



Aegialitis hiaticola. x f . . 



there lays its black-spotted drab eggs in a hole paved with small 

 stones. Ae. curonica, the Little Einged Plover, which strays to 

 Britain, the Faroes, and Iceland, breeds on inland waters from 

 Scandinavia to Japan ; reaching southwards to North Africa, 

 Turkestan, and China, and on migration to the Gaboon, Mozam- 

 bique, Ceylon, and New Guinea. It is distinguished from the 

 last species by the shafts of all the primaries, except the outer 

 one, being dusky. Ae. cantiana, the Kentish Plover, which still 

 nests in Kent and Sussex, occupies Europe though very locally 

 North Africa, and Central Asia to China and Japan ; it compara- 

 tively seldom breeds inland, and is found in winter as far as South 

 Africa, India, and Australia. The collar is incomplete in front, the 

 female has no black crown, while the black legs distinguish it from 

 VOL. IX T 



