OP THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 151 



Family CHABADBIID^E. Genus CHABADRIUS. 



Subfamily CHARADRIINJE. 



ASIATIC GOLDEN PLOVER. 



CHARADBIUS PULVUS. Gmelin. 



Charadrius fulvus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p 687 (1788) ; Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 443, 

 pis. 516, 517, figs 2, 3 (1871) ; Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4, iii. p. 276 (1883) ; Seebohm, 

 Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 40 (1885) ; Dixon, Nests and Eggs Non-indig. Brit. B. p. 234 

 (1894) ; Seebohm, Col. Pig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 125, pi. 39 (1896). 



Charadrius dominicus, (P. L. S. Miiller), Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 147 

 (1896 partim) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 195 (1896 par tim). 



Geographical distribution. British : At least two examples of the 

 typical Asiatic Golden Plover have been known to occur in the British Islands, 

 but one of these is doubtful from the fact of having been obtained in Leadenhall 

 Market, a centre to which many Continental examples of waders find their way 

 during the season. This the first reputed British example was said to have 

 been sent with a number of Golden Plovers from Norfolk in December, 1874 

 (Dresser, Ibis, 1875, p. 513). However probable this may be, it was always open 

 to the doubt of having been sent from the Continent, and accidentally mixed with 

 the Norfolk batch of Plovers. It sufficed, however, to put British naturalists on 

 the look-out, and thirteen years later (November 26th, 1887) an example was 

 obtained at Stennis, in Orkney, round which no doubt of any kind appears to 

 dwell (J. G. Millais, Field, 1887). Foreign : Eastern Palsearctic region and North- 

 western Nearctic region in summer, Oriental and Australian regions in winter. 

 Of accidental occurrence only in Europe and South-west Asia : on Heligoland 

 and Malta, in Malaga, Poland, and on the Mekran coast. It breeds on the tundras 

 of East Siberia from the valley of the Yenisei to the Pacific coast, and in Alaska, 

 where Dr. Stejneger says it occupies the whole shore line of Behring Sea. It 

 passes through South Siberia, Mongolia, Behring Island, and Japan, on migra- 

 tion, to winter in India, Burma Peninsula, China, the Malay Archipelago, 

 Australia, New Zealand,* and the Polynesia, but there can be little doubt that 

 the individuals visiting the temperate latitudes of the southern hemisphere do so 

 to breed, or are abnormal migrants far south of their usual limits.! 



' The Asiatic Golden Plover was discovered breeding on Portland Island, off New Zealand, by Mr. 

 Robson, in January, 1883. This is a most interesting and important fact, supporting our suggested new 

 Law of dispersal. 



t Conf. Migration of Birds, p. 218. 



