DKOMADID^] 



DROMAS 



321 



704. Dromas ardeola. Crab Plover. 



Dromas ardeola, Paykull, K. Vet. Abaci. Handl. StocWi. xxvi, pp. 182, 

 184, pi. 8 (1805); Gurney,Ibis, 1865, p. 270 [Natal Coast] ; La yard, 

 B. 8. Afr. p. 372 (1867) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 694 (1884) 

 id. Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 28 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 194 (1896) ; 

 Reichenoiv, Vog. Afr. i, p. 202 (1900). 



Description. Adult Male. Head and neck all round, wings, in- 

 cluding the coverts, scapulars and inner secondaries, rump, upper 

 tail-coverts and tail and the whole of the lower surface white ; mantle 

 black, the feathers elongated to form long plumes covering the 

 centre of the back ; wing quills, primary coverts and bastard wing 

 black ; the shafts of the primaries white and the inner webs ashy. 



Iris dusky ; bill black ; legs and feet bluish-ash. 



Length about 15-5 ; wing 8-0; tail 3-0 ; tarsus 3-55 ; culmen 2-1. 



FIG. 102. - Head of Dromas ardeola. 



The female is rather smaller and the mantle plumes are not so 

 well developed. 



The young bird has the head and nape streaked with greyish- 

 black and the mantle grey instead of black. 



Distribution. The Crab Plover is found along the coasts of 

 the Indian Ocean, including the Ked Sea and Persian Gulf, from the 

 Andamans and Nicobars to Madagascar and Natal. It has only 

 once been recorded from within our limits. Ayres met with a 

 single specimen nearly forty years ago on the seashore near 

 Durban. It is probably only an accidental visitor so far south. 

 21 VOL. iv. 



