370 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



717. JEGIALITIS DUBIA. 

 THE LESSER RINGED PLOVER. 



Charadrius dubius, Scop. Del. Flor. et Faun. Insub. ii. p. 93. Charadrius 

 curonicus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 692. Charadrius philippinus, Lath. 2nd. 

 Orn. ii. p. 745. Charadrius fluviatilis, Bechst. Gemeinn. Naturg. Deutschl. iv. 

 p. 422. .ffigialitis philippensis (Scop.), apud Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 640. -SCgia- 

 litis fluviatilis, Hume, S. F. i. p. 230, ii. p. 289 ; id. Nests and Eggs, p. 572. 

 ^gialitis dubius, Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 316 ; El. B. Burm. p. 153 ; David et 

 Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 429 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 676 ; Hume, S. F. vii. 

 p. 227 (note) ; Cripps, S. F. vii. p. 299 ; Hume, S. F. vii. p. 300 (note), viii. 

 pp. 112, 199 ; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 351 j Bingham, S. F. ix. p. 196; Oates, S. F. 

 x. p. 237 ; Kelham, Ibis, 1882, p. 10. ^Egialitis curonica, Wold, in Bl. B. 

 Burm. p. 154 ; Dresser, Birds Eur. vii. p. 491, pi. ; Armstrong, S. F. iv. p. 340 ; 

 Hume Sf Dav. S. F. vi. p. 456 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 952. 



Description. Male and female. Feathers immediately at the base of the 

 upper mandible black, continued as a band to the eyes, widening and 

 encircling the eye and covering the ear-coverts ; forehead white, next to 

 which is a broad black band succeeded by a narrower white one which is 

 continued on both sides over the eyes to the end of the ear-coverts ; the 

 whole chin and throat pure white continued narrowly round the hind neck 

 to form a collar ; a broad band across the breast black, continued nar- 

 rowly round the hind neck immediately next the white collar ; crown, 

 nape, back, rump, upper tail- coverts, wing-coverts, scapulars and tertiaries 

 ashy brown ; central tail-feathers ashy brown broadly tipped with dark 

 brown ; the next ashy brown, then subterminally dark brown and tipped 

 with white ; the remaining feathers intermediate in coloration between 

 these and the outermost feathers, which are pure white with a brown patch 

 near the centre of the inner webs ; quills ashy brown, the shaft of the first 

 primary white, those of the others all brown; the secondaries broadly 

 tipped and partially margined with white ; the whole under plumage from 

 the breast-band downwards white, as are also the axillaries and under 

 wing- coverts. 



In winter the plumage appears to undergo very little change, the black 

 bands on the head and breast being merely mixed with greyish and conse- 

 quently being less well defined. 



Bill black, a very small portion of the base of the lower mandible 

 yellowish ; iris dark brown ; edges of the eyelids yellow ; legs dusky 

 greenish brown; in the summer the legs are said to be yellow. 



Length 6*5 inches, tail 2-4, wing 4'5, tarsus '9, bill from gape '6. The 

 female is a little larger. 



The Lesser Ringed Plover appears to be generally distributed throughout 

 Burniah as a winter visitor. I found it tolerably abundant in Southern 



