80 BRITISH BIRDS WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



The adult male (Foocliow, May and, 1886) is almost exactly like C. pluvialis, 

 with the following exceptions : the bird is considerably smaller ; the bill, never- 

 theless, rather longer and slenderer ; and the axillary feathers smoke grey instead 

 of white. This distinction separates the two species at once, at all ages, and in all 

 stages of plumage. Length 9-9^ inches ; wing 6j-6f . 



In winter there is no appreciable distinction between the corresponding stage 

 in />/uvialis except the smaller size and grey axillaries. A chick I have not seen. 



Hardly anyone has found this bird's nest. Von Middendorf did on the 

 Taimyr, but gives no details. Swinhoe's description of the nest and eggs 

 (Formosa) seems to refer to those of the Painted Snipe, though Seebohni attributes 

 them to s-Egialitis geoffroyi. Seebohni himself found the present bird nesting on 

 the Yenesei, and gives the only good description of its nest I know of, (" Ibis," 

 1879, p. 154). " It was a mere hollow in the ground, upon a piece of turfy land, 

 overgrown with moss and lichen ; and it was lined with broken stalks of reindeer 

 moss. The eggs, four in number, were a size smaller than the Golden Plover, 

 averaging iH-iiJ inches." In its behaviour at the nest and nesting habits generally, 

 it differs little from our Golden Plover. I have suggested that the individuals 

 found in summer in China and Formosa (and India?) have started with the bulk 

 of the species on migration, but do not feel impelled, from personal reasons, to go 

 as far as the breeding grounds, and are probably the young birds of the preceding 

 year, or some of them. At all events, my series of skins of this bird, from China 

 and Japan, seems to point to this. 



Everything, almost, which is told us of this bird would apply equally to the 

 ordinary Golden Plover ; its food, its favourite kind of country, its rapid flight 

 and note, seem to differ very little from those of the other species. The size of 

 the bird and its smoke-coloured axillaries would no doubt distinguish it on the 

 wing, even at some distance, as a capable field naturalist can separate the Grey 

 from the Golden Plover a long way off; and an observer with a good ear and 

 memory would doubtless notice a difference in the note. Probably a good many 

 more individuals visit our shores than we have any idea of, and should be 

 systematically looked out for, especially on the east coast. Oriental birds, especially 

 young ones, of species which breed far north, seem not uncommonly to " take the 

 wrong turning," and follow the coast westward, instead of eastward, finding them- 

 selves in the end on the west European coast instead of that of Eastern Asia. 



