(JUgtctCifis 

 J?taticol'a). 



(Being the Mansel-Pleydell Prize Monograph for 1906.^ 



By W. PARKINSON CURTIS, 



BOOKS REFERRED TO. 



Author. Late. Title. Publisher. 



R. Bowdler Sharpe. . 1896 A Handbook of the Birds of 



Great Britain . . . . Edward Lloyd, Ltd. 



Charles Dixon . . 1902 Birds' Nests . . . . Grant Richards. 



W. R. Ogilvie-Grant 1905 Guide to the Bird Gallery 

 of the South Kensington 



Museum .. .. Trustees of the 



British Museum. 



Henry Seebohm .. 1886 History of British Birds .. J. C. Nimmo. 



J. C. Mansel-Pleydell 1895 Birds of Dorset . . . . R. H. Porter. 



H. E. Dresser . . 1870 Birds of Europe . . . . Taylor and Francis. 



R. Bowdler Sharpe.. 1896 Catalogue of Birds, Vol. 



XXIV. .. .. Trustees of the 



British Museum. 



PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 



THE animal with which we propose to deal is the Ringed 

 Plover (JEgialitu hiaticola}, and we have thought it 

 desirable by way of preface to give the various 

 main divisions to which it belongs, with the several 

 leading characteristics, entitling it to its present 

 position in the orthodox system of classification. 



The table (Plate I.) given herewith, shows the 

 main divisions of the Animal Kingdom, and is carried as far as 



