364 CHARADBIID^ ^GIALITIS 



Caspian Sea and Sea of Aral, and its egg is described in Dresser's 

 " Birds of Europe." It is found on migration in Arabia, and North- 

 east and Central Africa, and spends the northern winter in South 

 Africa. 



Within our limits it is widely spread during the summer months 

 from October to March, and is found inland as well as by the sea. 



The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony Knysna, 

 January (Andersson), Grahamstown (Layard), Hanover, September, 

 Port Elizabeth (S. A. Mus.), King William's Town (Trevelyan), 

 Colesberg (Arnot), Griqualand West, October (S. A. Mus.) ; Natal 

 near Durban, December (Eeid), near Newcastle, November (Feil- 

 den) ; Orange Eiver Colony Leeuwspruit, October (B. Hamilton) ; 

 Transvaal near Potchefstroom, September and January (Ayres) ; 

 Ehodesia Matopos, December (S. A. Mus.), Pandamatenka (Holub) ; 

 German South-west Africa Otjimbinque, December, February, 

 Ondonga, November (Andersson), Eeheboth, February (Fleck). 



Habits. The Caspian Plover is usually seen in small flocks of 

 from ten to twenty individuals on the open veld, often far from 

 water, though in some places they only appear after rain has fallen. 

 It feeds on small insects and runs like a Courser, though not quite 

 so rapidly. The cry is a " chuck." Though usually in the non- 

 breeding plumage, individuals are not infrequently obtained in full 

 summer dress. Mr. Brown writes to me that in the neighbourhood 

 of Port Elizabeth this bird is an irregular migrant during the 

 summer months and is found both in summer and winter plumage. 



726. .ffigialitis hiaticola. Ringed Plover. 



Charadrius hiaticula, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i. p. 253 (1766) ; Grill, 



K. Vet. Akad. Handl ii, no. 10, p. 53 (1858) [Knysna] ; Layard, B. S. 



Afr. p. 298 (1867) ; Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 125 (1888) ; 



Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 174 (1900) ; Hellmayr, Journ. Ornitli. 



1902, p. 237 [Port Elizabeth and Pienaars Kiver] . 

 -ZEgialitis hiaticula, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 218 [Natal] ; Gurney, in 



Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 276 (1872) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 85 ; 



Dresser, B. Eur. vii, p. 467, pi. 525 (1876) ; Sliarpe, ed. Layard's B. S. 



Afr. p. 660 (1884) ; id. Cat.B.M. xxiv, p. 256 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. 



i, p. 190 (1896) ; W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1899, p. 114 [Inhambane] . 

 Jllgialitis intermedius (nee Menetr.), Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 255 ; Sharpe 



ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 661 (1884). 



Description. Adult Male. Above dark brown ; a narrow frontal 

 band continued on either side below the eye to the ear-coverts, 



