CHARADRIUS.] AVES GRALLATORES. 179 



Common in some parts of England, appearing twice in the year, Spring 

 and Autumn, in its passage to and from more northern latitudes, in 

 which it breeds. Winters in the South of Europe. With us generally 

 observed in small flocks on heaths, moors, and other open districts. 

 Feeds on insects and worms. This and the preceding species are in 

 high estimation for the table. 



163. C. Hiaticula, Linn. (Ringed Plover.) Upper 

 parts cinereous brown : a broad gorget of black on the 

 breast : bill orange and black : feet orange. 



C. Hiaticula, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 539. Ringed Plover, 

 Mont. Orn. Diet. Selb. Illust. vol. n. p. 240. pi. 38. f. 1, 2. Bew. 

 Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 371. 



DIMENS. Entire length seven inches six lines: length of the bill 

 (from the forehead) seven lines, (from the gape) seven lines and a half; 

 of the tarsus eleven lines and a half; of the tail two inches five lines ; 

 from the carpus to the end of the wing five inches: breadth, wings 

 extended, sixteen inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Adult male in Summer and Winter.) Forehead, space 

 between the eye and the bill, and sides of the face, black; across the 

 forehead, and through the eyes, a white band, passing backwards to the 

 occiput : on the upper part of the breast a broad gorget of black, the ends 

 of which unite on the nape becoming narrower : throat, a collar round 

 the neck immediately above the black gorget, and the rest of the under 

 parts, pure white : crown of the head, and all the upper parts, cinereous 

 brown : quills dusky, with an oval white spot about the middle of each 

 feather; shafts partly white: outermost tail-feather wholly white; the 

 next white, with a small brown spot on the inner web ; the rest dusky, 

 tipped with white, the two middle ones excepted, which are dusky 

 throughout : bill orange at the base, black at the tip : irides hazel : 

 feet yellowish orange. (Adult female.) Lore and cheeks cinereous brown; 

 forehead white, surmounted by a narrow transverse band of dusky ash ; 

 streak through the eye faint ; gorget dusky : in other respects similar to 

 the male. (Young of the year.) Between the bill and the eye a dusky 

 streak ; forehead dirty white, without the coronal black band : upper 

 parts cinereous brown, the feathers edged with yellowish white : gorget 

 on the breast cinereous brown: bill dusky: feet yellowish. (Egg.) Stone- 

 colour, spotted and streaked with ash-blue and black : long. diam. one 

 inch five lines ; trans, diam. one inch and half a line. 



Common on most parts of the sea-coast, resorting occasionally to inland 

 marshes and the banks of rivers. Remains with us the whole year. Food 

 insects and worms. Pairs in May, and towards the end of that month 

 deposits its eggs, which are four in number, in a small cavity in the sand, 

 just above high-water mark. In the Autumn becomes gregarious, and 

 keeps in small flocks throughout the Winter. 



164. C. minor, Meyer. (Little Ringed Plover.) Upper 

 parts cinereous brown : a gorget of black on the breast : bill 

 entirely black : feet flesh-colour. 



C. minor, Temm. Man. oTOm. torn. n. p. 542. Little Ring-Dotterel, 

 Gould, Europ. Birds, part xi. pi. 2. 



M2 



