324 THE PLOVERS 



head above the eye, and down the sides of the neck, at the base of which it consider- 

 ably expands. This white longitudinal band stands in strong contrast with the 

 jet-black of the sides of the head, the neck and breast, flanks and upper abdomen. 

 The lower abdomen and under tail-coverts are white. Towards the autumn the 

 sparkling brilliance of the contrasted black and white of the mantle is much reduced 

 by the abrasion of the white. The beak and legs are black, the eye dark hazel. 

 The whiter dress lacks the black on the face and breast, while the upper surface is 

 of an almost uniform ashy brown, the feathers having a whitish edging, and a more 

 or less distinct subterminal blackish marginal band. There is an indistinct supra- 

 orbital band of white, while the sides of the face have dusky streaks ; the fore-neck 

 is of a pale ashy brown with dusky mottlings, while the throat and breast are white. 

 The juvenile plumage resembles that of the golden-plover at the same period, but 

 the black axillaries, white on the innermost primaries, white upper tail-coverts, and 

 more coarsely barred tail, render the two species easily distinguishable. Moreover, 

 the young grey-plover has a hind-toe. The young in down are of a rich golden 

 yellow above, spotted and blotched with black, and white underneath, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. The grey-plover only visits us during the winter months, 

 and on the European Continent its only breeding-grounds are the tundra of North 

 Russia and the island of Kolguev. On the mainland it is known to nest on the Kanin 

 Peninsula and the Lower Petchora. In Northern Siberia it breeds on the Yalmal 

 Peninsula, the Taimyr, and the valleys of the Lower Yenisei and Kolyma. The 

 first discovery of the breeding haunts of this species was made by von Middendorff 

 in 1843, on the Boganida, and Seebohm and Harvie-Brown were the first to find it 

 nesting in Europe, on the Petchora, in 1875. It also breeds in Arctic North America. 

 During the winter months it migrates southward through Europe and Asia by 

 definite routes to Africa, along both sides of the continent south to Cape Colony 

 and Natal, as well as to the Canaries, Azores, Cape Verdes, and Madagascar. In 

 Asia it ranges to the shores of the Indian Ocean, Borneo, the Philippines, New 

 Guinea, and other islands of the Malayan Archipelago, as well as to the Solomon 

 Isles and Australia ; while North American birds winter in the West Indies, Brazil, 

 and Colombia. It will thus be seen that, with the exception of the southern part 

 of the American continent, there is no part of the temperate or tropical world 

 which is not visited by this truly cosmopolitan species. [F. c. R. J.] 



3. Migration. A bird of passage and a winter visitor from Northern 

 Europe. A few unmoulted adults may be recorded at the end of July or the begin- 

 ning of August. In September the main movement, that of the flocks of young 



