CLASSIFIED NOTES 515 



THE PLOVERS 1 



[OiiDEH : Cli'irntlriifin-iiiffi. SUBORDER : Limicoke. FAMILY: Cli<ir<itlrii</>i'. 



SntKAMiLY : Cli<ir<i<lri!nce] 



CASPIAN-PLOVER \i'li<tr<'i<li-'in <i,-<i<iti<'it.-< Pallas; sKtjluHti.t utidtica (Pallas). German, 



lcii.-ijii.--i'li,' /,'/< 'ii/it'i ''/'/: Italian, ro/v/ov <i*i<t/ico]. 



1. Description. Recognised by the rich chesnut chest, banded below with black, and the 

 white axillaries Length 8 in. [203 mm.]. Adult in breeding plumage general colour of 

 the upper parts smoky brown except a white band across the forehead, which extends back- 

 wards over the eye to the ear-coverts; primaries black, with white shafts; throat, belly, under 

 tail-coverts, under wing-coverts, and axillaries white ; across the upper chest there is a broad 

 band of rich chesnut, bordered below by a band of black: iris hazel; bill black; feet greenish 

 olive, toes dusky. In the adult in winter plumage the chesnut and black of the chest is 

 replaced with sandy buff, and the forehead, sides of the face and chin are washed with 



lline. [w. i'. i'. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. According to Buturlin this species breeds from the mouth of the Volga 

 and the lower Ural north to about lat. 51, east of the Magodjary Mountains, and in the Turgai 

 government to about lat. 491 ; apparently also in the Akmolinsk government and the Atbassar 

 district. It ranges east to Dzungaria and the Tian Shan and south to the Oxus. On migration 

 it visits South Persia and Arabia, and has been recorded from India, while in Africa it follows 

 the Nile Valley, and passing through the Egyptian Sudan and Abyssinia reaches Damaraland 

 and Cape Colony. In Europe it has occurred west as far as Italy (twice), Bulgaria, Heligoland 

 (twice), and three or four times in England (Norfolk and Sussex). [F. c. H. j.] 



LITTLE RINGED-PLOVER [T/,, /,,;,/,,(/.- dubiua Scopoli ; JSyialitis curonica (J. F. Gmelin). 

 French, i>ctif ptuvierd <-<>Hier; German, Fliiss-Regenpfeifer \ Italian, corriere piccolo]. 



1. Description. Differs from the ringed-plover in having the bill black, not orange-yellow 

 at the base as in the latter species, and by having the inner webs of the inner primary quills 

 uniform, whereas the ringed-plover has a "blaze " of white across the primaries. Length 7 in. 

 [177 mm.]. Adult banded across the forehead with a black and white bar, and a collar of white 

 feathers bordered with black encircles the neck. General colour above, ash-brown ; sides of rump 

 and lateral upper tail-coverts white ; primaries uniform dark brown, first feather with the shaft 

 white, central tail feathers like the back, but indistinctly barred with blackish brown towards 

 the tip ; outer tail feathers white, with a bar of blackish brown ; chin, throat, and under 

 parts pure white, with the exception of a deep black collar across the fore-neck. The young 

 resembles the adult, but lacks the black collar across the chest. Iris dusky brown ; orbital skin 

 yellow; bill dusky black; feet flesh-colour, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. This species, unlike the ringed-plover, avoids the sea-coast and haunts 

 shingle-beds and sand-flats by large rivers and inland lakes. In Europe it breeds north to 

 Scandinavia (in Sweden up to lat. 62 N.), and in Russia to 64 in Finland, 67^ on the White 

 Sea, and about 60 in the Perm government. Southward it is found locally in suitable localities 

 throughout the Continent south to the Straits of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, as well as in 

 some of the Mediterranean Islands. In the Pyrenees it is found up to 4000 feet (Saunders). 

 It also breeds in Northern Africa Madeira, Marocco, Algeria and Tunisia, and Egypt; and in 

 Asia from West Siberia, Transcaspia, Asia Minor and Palestine, eastwards to the Sea of Okhotsk, 

 Mongolia, China, and Japan. Southward it breeds in Mesopotamia, India, the Shan States, and 

 apparently the Philippines, but by some writers a tropical race has been regarded as distinct. 



1 Vol. iii. p. 313. 



