232 GRALLATORES. CHARADRIUS. PLOVER. 



THE present species has a wide geographical range, though 

 not, I imagine, to the extent supposed by many naturalists ; 

 the birds which have been considered by them as belonging 

 to this species being of a different one, viz. the Charadrius 

 Marmoratus of WAGLER, which, though nearly allied to, 

 and greatly resembling, Char. Plumalis in general appearance, 

 yet possess certain and permanent distinctions in colour of 

 plumage, size, &c. Among these, I may mention, as a test 

 of contradistinction, the colour of the under surface of the 

 wings, and of the long axillary feathers, which, in the exotic 

 species, are of an uniform cinereous or pale hair-brown co- 

 lour ; whereas, in all specimens of C. Pluvialis, they are pure 

 white. Instead, therefore, of extending the range of the 

 species now before us to America, New Holland, and other 

 parts of the southern hemisphere, I feel inclined to limit it to 

 Europe, Northern Asia, and some few districts in the North 

 of Africa. Although it may be accounted indigenous in 

 Britain, being found in parts of the kingdom through the 

 whole year, it is nevertheless subject to the laws of migra- 

 tion, even within these confines. Thus, as autumn approaches, 

 and after the young have acquired maturity, large flocks are 

 formed, which gradually leave the upland and mountainous 

 districts, and come down to the lower lands and to the coast. 

 Some of these bodies pass onwards to spend the winter on 

 the open downs that overlook the sea in the southern coun- 

 ties, where this bird can only be regarded as a winter visi- 

 tant, since it does not appear that it breeds much to the south 

 of a boundary formed by the river Tyne. Towards the end 

 of March, or the beginning of April, when the impulse of 

 nature excites them, the flocks, which during the autumn 

 and winter had remained united, begin to separate into smaller 

 parties, and retire to the uncultivated grounds of the northern 

 counties of England, and to the Highlands of Scotland, 

 where they break into pairs and prepare to breed. At this 

 period the vernal moult commences, and a remarkable change 

 of plumage is soon perceptible, the birds being fully clad in 



