THE RINGED PLOVER. 197 



2. Shaft to first primary only white. 



Bill yellow at base of lower mandible only dubia. 



Shaft all primaries marked more or less with white. 



Both mandibles orange-yellow at base . . hiaticola. 



sEgialitis alexandrina, both the bird and egg, is readily 



distinguishable even at a distance. We have had a fairly close 



acquaintance with the bird, having seen it in its native haunts in 



all stages from the egg upward. The two latter species, A. 



dubia and A. hiaticola are not so readily distinguishable, but, 



whereas A. hiaticola is a lover of the seashore, A. dubia frequents 



rivers and inland waters, rarely going to the sea. 



Henry Seebohm has divided sEgialitis hiaticola into two sub- 

 species, to which he respectively gave the names C. hiaticula and 

 C. hiaticula major, but we will reserve the discussion of this to a 

 later period in our paper. We have now arrived at the following 

 classification of our subject : 



Kingdom, Animalia. 

 Sub-Kingdom, Veftebrata. 

 Class, Aves. 

 Sub- Class, CarinatcE. 

 Order, Charadriiformes. 

 Family, Charadriidce. 

 Sub -Family Charadriince. 

 Genus, sEgialitis. 

 Species, hiaticola. 



This closes our preliminary observations, and we will now 

 proceed to deal with our subject specifically. 



We shall divide our subject into the following headings, but, 

 as this arrangement is more arbitrary than natural, there will be 

 some overlapping : 



(i.) Synonomy. 

 (ii.) Familiar names, 

 (iii.) Plumages (a) male, () female, (c) immature, (d} 



nestling. 



(iv.) Range (a) in the world, (#) in Great Britain, (c) in 

 Dorset. 



