THE KENTISH PLOVER. 369 



forehead from the rufous of the crown, the ear-coverts, a streak from the 

 gape to the eye, and a patch on either side the breast black ; the whole 

 lower plumage, axillaries, under wing-coverts and a narrow collar round 

 the hind neck, immediately next the rufous of the head, pure white ; back, 

 rump, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, tertiaries and upper wing-coverts ashy 

 brown, the greater coverts tipped with white ; the four central tail-feathers 

 dark brown ; the three outer pairs white, the remaining pair whity brown ; 

 quills brown, the shaft of the first primary pure white, those of the others 

 mesially white for an inch or more in extent ; secondaries broadly tipped 

 with white. 



The female in summer differs from the male in having the black bands on 

 the head narrower, and the rufous on the crown extremely pale. 



Both sexes in winter have the rufous feathers of the crown and nape 

 broadly edged with brown and the black marks on the head are mixed 

 with white. 



Young birds have the forehead whitish, the crown and nape ashy brown 

 like the back ; the collar round the neck is present, but the white is less 

 pure ; there are no black bands on the head nor patches on the sides of the 

 breast, these being indicated by a brown tinge only. 



Bill and legs black, iris dark brown. 



Length 6'5 inches, tail 2, wing 4*5, tarsus I'l, bill from gape '8. The 

 female is of the same size or rather smaller. 



This and the two preceding species may be separated from all the other 

 small Plovers likely to occur in Burmah by the colour of the shafts of the 

 primaries. In all three, the shaft of the first is entirely white, the others 

 white only on the central portion for a length of an inch or an inch and a 

 half. M. placida was at one time thought to occur in Burmah, and it may 

 yet be found in this country ; it can be recognized by its having the shafts 

 of all the primaries hair-brown, except a minute portion near the tips, 

 which is albescent. 



I have never met with the Kentish Plover in Burmah, but Dr. Armstrong 

 found it very abundant along the coast about the Delta of the Irrawaddy. 

 Mr. Davison procured it at various points in Tenasserim, and Capt. Ward- 

 law Ramsay at Tonghoo. Mr. Blyth gives it from Arrakan. 



It occurs in the central and southern portions of Europe, the whole of 

 Africa, and nearly the whole of Asia down to Ceylon on the one hand 

 and Singapore on the other, extending east as far as Cochin China, where 

 Dr. Tiraud met with it. 



Major Legge found it breeding in Ceylon in June and July on the banks 

 of salt lagoons. It is unlikely to be other than a winter visitor to Burmah. 



VOL. II. 



