CLASSIFIED NOTES 517 



excepting that the male has the black of the under surface more uniform. The seasonal change 

 of plumage is the same as that of C. pluviali*. [w. p. p. and T. \v. | 



2. Distribution. This race breeds on the tundra of Arctic Asia, from the shores of the 

 Kara S.M I.M-I across the continent to Kamtschatka, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the mouth of the 

 Amur, as well as in Alaska, where it meets the American race, but is predominant on the shores 

 of Bering Sea. It migrates along the Pacific side of America to Chile, and also passes 

 through Asia to winter in India, the Malay Peninsula, the Malay Archipelago, and many of the 

 island groups of the Pacific, south to Australia and New Zealand. As a straggler it has 

 wandered west to Poland, Heligoland, Malta (twice), South Spain, Algeria (once), and two or 

 three times to Great Britain. [F. c. is. .1. ] 



SOCIABLE-PLOVER [r/,^/, ;*,',/ r /? v,/,;,-; (Pallas); Vanellus gregdrius (Pallas). German, 



Hen/' i/- A' '</,,'/; ; Italian, pm-unci-lla f/r<'c/</ria]. 



1. Description. Recognised by its broad and rounded wing and the large black and 

 chesnut patch on the belly. Total length about 12 inches [305 mm.]. There is no seasonal 

 change of plumage, and the sexes are alike in coloration. The adult has the forehead white, 

 extending in u broad line backwards over the eye and uniting on the back of the head ; crown 

 of the head and lores deep glossy blue-black ; remainder of upper parts, including the long 

 secondaries, light ashy grey ; sides of the face reddish buff; throat white ; chest dark ashy grey ; 

 belly black; lower abdomen chesnut; under tail-coverts white; sides of the rump and upper tail- 

 coverts white ; basal two-thirds of tail white, with a broad black band occupying the terminal 

 third and tipped with white, the black bars on the tail feathers gradually diminishing in extent, 

 until on the outer pair it becomes absent ; iris dark brown ; bill and feet black. The young 

 bird differs from the adult in having the belly white, the feathers of the chest with dusky cross 

 bars and tips to the feathers, and in lacking the black crown, [w. p. P. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. In Russia this species breeds in the central governments up to 49-50 

 N. and 56 in the Perm government, and is common in the Kirghiz steppes, but is absent from 

 Transcaucasia. In Asia it breeds in Transcaspia north of the Ust-Urt Mountains and thence to 

 the south of the Tobolsk and south-west of the Tomsk governments (lat. 53 N.), and east to 

 Zaissan-Nor (Buturlin). It migrates in winter over the Pamirs to North-west India and 

 Ceylon, Arabia, and North-east Africa (Egypt, Nubia, the Sudan, and Abyssinia). It has also 

 occurred as a casual in Poland, Hungary, Italy (seven times), South France, and Spain (once). 

 Four specimens have been obtained and others seen in the British Isles. [F. c. R. J.] 



THE STILTS 1 



[ORDER : Charadriiformes, SUBORDER : Limicola;. FAMILY : Charadriidce. 

 SUBFAMILY : Himantopodince] 



BLACKWINGED-STILT [Him&ntopus himdntopus (Linnaeus); Himdntopus cdndidus 

 Bonnaterre. French, ecliassc blanclw ; German, yrauschivanziger Stelzenldufer ; Italian, 

 cavalier d'ltalia]. 



1. Description. Distinguished by its extremely slender legs measuring about 10 inches long, 

 by having scarcely any web between the toes, and no hallux, and by its long thin bill 2 inches 

 [63 mm.]. The adult male has the general colour of the upper surface black with a greenish 

 gloss ; back and rump white ; upper tail-coverts pale grey ; wings black glossed with green ; head 

 neck, and the whole of the under parts pure white ; under wing-coverts black ; axillaries white ; 

 iris deep carmine ; bill blackish ; feet rose-pink. The adult female differs from the male in 



1 Vol. iii. p. 413. 

 VOL. IV. 3lJ 



