THE GREY PLOVER. 365 



Length 10 inches, tail 2*5, wing 6'3, tarsus 1/8, bill from gape 1*1. The 

 sexes are of about the same size. 



The Eastern Golden Plover differs from the Western form, C. pluvialis, 

 in having the axillaries smoky brown instead of pure white. The 

 American form C. viryinicus has the axillaries of the same colour as those 

 of C. fulvus, but is separated on account of its greater size. 



The Golden Plover is abundant during the cold season throughout 

 Bur mah_, arriving in September. The majority leave us again in November 

 and December, but a considerable number remain till April or May. 



It has a wide distribution, being found over the greater part of Asia, 

 straggling into Europe and Africa at times, and ranging on the east down 

 to Australia and some of the islands of the Pacific Ocean. 



The Golden Plover frequents waste ground, plains of grass and wet 

 paddy-fields, and also the edges of rivers, and is generally met with in 

 flocks of considerable size. It breeds in China, and also it is said in some 

 parts of India, laying four eggs in a hollow lined with a few blades of 

 grass. The eggs are yellowish blotched with blackish sepia. 



Genus SQUATAKOLA, Leach. 



713. SQUATAROLA HELVETICA. 



THE GREY PLOVER. 



Tringa helvetica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 250. Squatarola helvetica, Jerd. B. 

 Lid. ii. p. 635 ; Dresser, Birds Eur. vii. p. 455 ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 313 ; 

 El. B. Burm. p. 153; Scully, S. F. iv. p. 184; Armstrong, 8. F. iv. p. 338; 

 David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 424 ; Hume Sf Dav. S. F. vi. p. 455 ; Hume, S. F. 

 viii. p. 112; Legye, Birds Ceylon, p. 929; Oates, S. F. x. p. 237; Kelham, Ibis, 

 1882, p. 7. 



Description. Male and female in summer. Sides of the forehead, lores, 

 sides of the head, chin, throat, breast and abdomen deep black ; vent, 

 thighs and under tail-coverts white ; axillaries black tipped with brownish ; 

 the whole head from the forehead to the nape, the upper neck and two 

 broad bands continued down to the sides of the breast white, the centres 

 of the feathers more or less brown ; back, rump, scapulars, tert\aries and 

 wing- coverts a mixture of white, black and brown, more or less disposed in 

 the shape of irregular bars ; upper tail-coverts white barred with brown ; 

 tail white barred with broader brown bars ; quills brown, a portion of the 

 shaft and a long patch on the inner webs white. 



Male and female in winter. Forehead, lores, cheeks, chin and throat 

 white with a few minute brown streaks ; feathers immediately round the 



