158 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



other bird within hearing that it is time to be off from that par- 

 ticular locality. Frequently the Kill-deer remains all winter in 

 some of the Middle States if the weather is not too severe, but 

 when migrating it travels chiefly at night, often at a great height, 

 announcing its presence by its clear, plaintive note sounded 

 amidst the stars." 



Nest. A depression in the ground, sometimes lined with grass. 



Eggs. Four in number; cream-coloured, spotted thickly 

 with blackish-brown ; sometimes the ground-colour is of a 

 brownish-drab, and the spots rather small. Axis, 1*5 inch; 

 diam., 1-15. 



THE SAND-PLOVERS. GENUS ^EGIALITIS. 



ALgialitis, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 558. 



Type, &. hiaticola (Linn.). 



The species of this genus are of small size, cosmopolitan in 

 their range, and most of them decorated with a black frontal 

 band. The characters of the genus sEgialitis are the same 

 as those of Oxyechus, excepting that the tail is shorter and 

 more square and is not equal to half of the wing in 

 length. Eighteen species are known, some of them breeding 

 in the high north of both hemispheres, while many are quite 

 tropical in their habitat. As a rule, however, the Sand-Plovers 

 are migratory birds, and leave their breeding-grounds in 

 autumn. 



I. THE RINGED SAND-PLOVER. ^EGIALITIS HIATICOLA. 



Charadrius kiatmila, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 253 (1766); Mac- 

 gill. Brit. B. k. p. 116 (1850). 



^Egialitis hiaticula, Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 467, pi. 525 (1876) ; 

 B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 159 (1883) ; Saunders, ed. Yarr. 

 Brit. B. iii. p. 257 (1883) ; id. Man. Brit. B. p. 523 (1889) ; 

 Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xx. (1891.) 



Charadrius hiaticula major, Seebohm, Hist. Br. B. iii. p. 20 

 (1885). 



Mgialitis hiaticela, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 256. 



(Plate LXXV1IL} 

 Adult Male. General colour above light brown ; wing-coverts 



like the back, the greater series tipped with white; quills brown, 



