2246 PLOVERS, SANDPIPERS, SNIPE, J AC AN AS, GULLS 



ringed plovers derive their name from the dark ring or gorget round the neck of 

 the majority of the species, a white ring being also generally present above the 

 dark one; but in one species this only forms a collar on the back of the neck, and in 

 another both are wanting. Obviously, therefore, this dark ring (which is black in 

 the breeding dress of the males) will not serve to characterize the genus. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Seebohm, the group may be best defined by the absence of the first toe, 

 the dark transverse band near the end of the tail feathers, and the white abdomen 

 and axillaries, the two latter features serving to distinguish them from the three- 

 toed dotterels, which also have a dark band across the tail. The beak is always 

 much shorter than the head, and generally pale colored at the base, while the legs 

 and feet are invariably of a light tint. Moreover, while the central pair of tail 

 feathers have but very small white tips, in the other feathers of that part the size 

 of this white tip gradually increases to the outermost one. 



The ringed plovers include at least twelve species, which are distributed over 

 the greater part of the world except South America, although but poorly represented 

 in India and the adjacent countries during the breeding season. The majority fre- 

 quent the banks of rivers and lakes, rather than the coast, laying their eggs in a 

 mere hollow of the ground. The prettily-colored common ringed plover (s. hiati- 

 cula), of which there is a larger and a smaller race, the former more common in the 

 British Islands and adjacent parts of Europe, belongs to a group of the genus in 

 which the central half of the outer webs of the innermost primaries is white; while 

 it is specially characterized by the whole of the under parts being white, with the 

 exception of the lores and a single broad band across the breast both of which are 

 black in adult males, and also by the web between the third and fourth toes ex- 

 tending only to their first joints. In length it varies from eight to seven inches. 

 The larger race is the only one definitely known to breed in Britain, while the 

 smaller one breeds in Greenland, Iceland, Nova Zembla, etc., as well as in Western 

 Siberia, Turkestan, and North Africa; in summer it visits the greater part of 

 Europe northward of the Alps, and in winter it spreads over the basin of the Medi- 

 terranean and Africa. In North America it is represented by the half- webbed 

 ringed plover (s. semipalmata) , differing by the web between the third and fourth 

 toes extending to their second joints, and likewise by the presence of a shorter web 

 between the second and third toes. The little ringed plover (^\ minor], which is 

 an occasional visitor to Britain, and breeds over the greater part of Europe and 

 Asia north of the Himalayas, wintering in India and Africa, may be taken as an 

 example of the second group of smaller species characterized by the dark outer webs 

 of the inner primaries. It is specially distinguished by the scapulars being colored 

 like the back, and by the outer tail feathers being less than a quarter of an inch 

 shorter than the central pair, the latter feature distinguishing it from Hodgson's 

 ringed plover (s. placida) of India. In length this species is six and one-half 

 inches, but a resident Indian variety is smaller. Another well-known representative 

 of the first group is the American kill-deer plover (SE. vodfera), which measures 

 from nine to ten inches in length, and is characterized by the chestnut-buff color of 

 the lower back, rump, and upper tail coverts. In England the breeding season of 

 the common ringed plover commences in March, and the flocks which have collected 



