^GIALITIS. 337 



many eggs, as in true Plovers, exhibit underlying clouds and spots 

 of faint inky purple. In some eggs the markings are so closely 

 freckled together that the ground-colour is almost entirely hid ; in 

 others they stand out bold and clear, not covering a fourth of the 

 surface of the shell. In some eggs, again, the colour is clear and 

 deep, as if a coat of varnish had been put over it, while in others 

 it is dull and smudgy, as if smeared over with a very thin coat of 

 whitewash. One never finds two nests of eggs of this species 

 closely alike. In size they little exceed those of the Stone-Plover. 

 The eggs are of course devoid of gloss. 



In length they vary from 2-0 to 2-32, and in breadth from 1-5 

 to 1-7 ; but the average of the twenty eggs now before me is 2-15 

 by 1-6. 



Order LIMICOL^E. 



Family CHARADRIID^l. 



JEgialitis cantiana (Lath.).* The Kentish Plover. 



^Egialitis cantianus (Lath.}, Jerd. B. Incl ii, p. 640. 



^Egialophilus cautianus (Lath.), Hume, Rough Draft N. fy E. no. 848. 



Of the nidification of the Kentish Plover in India proper I 

 have no knowledge, but Colonel Vincent Legge records (P. Z. S. 

 1875, p. 374) finding the eggs of this species (JEgialitis cantiana) 

 near Harnbantota on the S.E. coast of Ceylon. He writes : 



" This Sand- Plover, together with JE. mongolica (for the most 

 part in winter dress and not breeding), was the most abundant of 

 the Charadriince met with during my explorations. But before 

 remarking on its nesting, I will describe the habitat of this and 

 other Waders in this part of Ceylon. 



" A chain of shallow lakes or salt-pans, from which the Govern- 

 ment of Ceylon annually obtains quantities of salt, fringe the 

 coast in this flat district for many miles to the north of Hamban- 

 tota ; they are situated at about | of a mile from the sea-shore, 

 being separated from the beach by a narrow belt of jungle through 

 which there is no communication with the outer salt water. The 

 salt-pans (or leways, as they are termed in Ceylon) are of great 

 extent, many of them being more than ten miles in circumference ; 



* I omit from this Edition the remarks which appeared in the ' Rough 

 Draft ' regarding the breeding of Charadrins fid v its, JEyialitis geoffroyi, and 

 IE,, mongolica, as there is no evidence whatever that any of these species breed 

 within the limits of the Empire. Jerdon's statement with regard to the first 

 spocies, that it breeds at Nellore and other parts of the country, is evidently a 

 mistake. ED 



VOL. III. 22 



