158 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family CHAEADEIID^E. Genus SQUATAROBA. 



Subfamily CiiARADRHNM. 



GREY PLOVER. 



SQUATAEOLA HELVETICA. (Linnaus) . 

 PLATE XXII. 



Tringa helvetica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 250 (1766). 



Pluvialis squatarola (Linn.), Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 86 (1852). 



Squatarola helvetica (Linn.), Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 455, pis. 515, fig 2, 517, fig. 2, 



518, fig. 2 (1871) ; Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4, iii. p. 278 (1883) ; Sharpe, Handb. B. 



Gt. Brit. iii. p. 138 (1896) ; Sharpe, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 182 (1896). 



Charadrius helveticus (Linn.), Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 44 (1885) ; Dixon, 

 Nests and Eggs Non.-indig. Brit. B. p. 232 (1894) ; Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs 

 Brit. B. p. 126, pi. 39 (1896). 



Squatarola cinerea Fleming ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. pt. xviii. (1891). 



Geographical distribution British : The Grey Plover is most abun- 

 dant on autumn passage along the coasts of the British Islands, but numbers 

 remain to winter ; and in spring a considerable stream of migrants, returning 

 north to breed, pass over our shores. It is most abundant on our eastern 

 coasts, but small numbers regularly visit the west of Scotland. In Ireland 

 it is less numerous than in England, and becomes rare on the Outer Hebrides. 

 Foreign : Circumpolar in summer ; Palaearctic, Nearctic (?), Neotropical, Oriental, 

 and Australian regions in winter. The only known breeding grounds of the Grey 

 Plover are situated on Kolguev Island, in the lower valleys of the Petchora and 

 Yenisei, on the Taimur Peninsula, and the delta of the Lena, in Alaska, on the 

 banks of the Anderson Eiver, and on Melville Peninsula, all districts of the 

 tundra above the limits of forest growth. It passes Central and Southern 

 Europe, the Canaries, South Siberia, Turkestan, Mongolia, Behring Island, and 

 Japan on migration, and winters in the basin of the Mediterranean, in Arabia, 

 Africa, India, South China, the Malay Archipelago, Australia, New Guinea, and 

 the Solomon group and adjacent isles. In theNew World it passes the Bermudas on 

 abnormal migration, and winters in the West Indies and in South America as 

 far south as Peru and Brazil. It has been recorded from Aruba Island, off the 

 north coast of Venezuela as late as the 24th of June ; whilst in the Old World 

 it is recorded from Eeunion, Mauritius, and the Seychelles. There is no 

 evidence to suggest that this species normally extends in winter beyond the 

 limits of the Intertropical realm in either hemisphere. I note that odd individuals 



