516 RARE BRITISH BIRDS 



To the British Isles it is a curiously rare visitor, having only been recorded about nine times ; 

 and winters in Africa south to the Gaboon and Mozambique, as well as in Southern Asia, Ceylon, 

 and the Malayan Archipelago (Moluccas, Palawan, and New Guinea). [F. c. R. j.] 



KILDEER-PLOVER [Charddrius voci/erus Limueus; JEgialltis voclfera (Linnaeus)]. 



1. Description. Recognised by the long and wedge-shaped tail and the cinnamon-coloured 

 rump and upper tail-coverts. Length 9 in. [228 mm.]. General colour above, dark brown 

 slightly glossed with green ; a white band across the forehead followed by a band of black ; the 

 white of the throat is continued round the back of the neck, forming a distinct collar ; rump 

 and upper tail-coverts rich cinnamon rufous ; middle tail feathers coloured like the back, with, a 

 band of black towards the tip ; outer tail feathers cinnamon, banded with black and broadly 

 tipped with white ; under parts pure white, with a band of deep black across the lower throat and 

 another across the upper chest ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white ; iris dark brown ; 

 eyelids orange or scarlet; bill black; feet pale pinkish or pale greyish yellow. The young 

 bird differs from the adult in having rufous edges to the feathers of the upper parts, 

 [w. P. P. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. An American species, which breeds from British Columbia, the Saskat- 

 chewan plains, Manitoba, and Ontario southward to Central Mexico. It winters in Central and 

 South America from California to Venezuela, Peru, and occasionally Paraguay and Chile. Six 

 occurrences are recorded from Great Britain (all but one from the south coast), aiid it is said to 

 have been obtained on the island of Madeira. [F. c. K. j.] 



AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER [Charddrius dominions dominions Muller. Lesser golden- 

 plover]. 



1. Description. Distinguished from the common golden-plover by the axillaries, which 

 are grey instead of pure white. Length 10 in. [254 mm.]. Adult in breeding plumage- 

 general colour above, black with large spots of golden buff; running across the forehead, and 

 continued down the sides of the neck on to the chest, is a broad line of white, while the sides of 

 the face, throat, chest, and remainder of under parts are of a deep black ; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries smoky brown ; iris dark hazel ; bill, legs, and feet black. After the autumn moult 

 the black of the under parts is wanting, being replaced with huffish feathers spotted on the chest 

 and obscurely barred with dusky brown on the sides of the body; under tail-coverts white. 

 [w. P. P. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. This race of lesser golden-plover breeds in Arctic North America from 

 Hudson Bay westward, including the Barren grounds and the coasts of the Arctic Sea to the 

 north of the Mackenzie, but in Northern Alaska it is replaced by the Siberian form. It is said 

 also to breed in northern British Columbia, and possibly also on the Parry Islands, Greenland. 

 It migrates south along the Atlantic side of America in winter to Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, 

 and visits the West Indies and Bermuda on migration, while it has occurred three or four times 

 in the British Isles, and once on Heligoland, in 1847. [F. c. R. J.] 



SIBERIAN GOLDEN-PLOVER [Charddrius dominions fnlvus Gmelin. Eastern golden- 

 plover. French, pluvier fauve; German, kleiner Gold-Regenpfeifer; Italian, Piviere 

 orientale]. 



1. Description. Scarcely distinguishable from the American golden-plover, but it is a 

 slightly smaller bird, and has the innermost secondaries relatively longer, extending to within 

 0-5 to 0'8 inch of the tip of the wing ; in the American golden-plover these feathers fall short of 

 the tip when the wing is closed by from 1 \ to 2 inches The sexes are alike in coloration, 



