^GIALITIS. 241 



S. F. ix, p. 81 ; Butler, ibid p. 426 ; Let/ye, Birds Cei/L p. 947 ; 



Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 94, 1882, p. 287; Reid, S. P. x, p. 65; 



Gates, B. B. ii, p. 368 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 330 ; id. Jour. 



Bom. N. H. Soc. ii, p. 167 ; vi, p, 21 ; Gate* in Hume's N. Sr E. 



2nd ed. iii, p. 337 ; Bulkley, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. viii, p. 325. 

 yEgialophilus caiitianus, Hume, N. fy E. p. 571 ; id. S. F. i, p. 230 ; 



Adam, S. F. i, p. 394; Hume, S. f. iv, p. 12. 

 JEgialitis alexandrina, Blyth 8f Wald. Birds Burin, p. 154 j Sharpe, 



Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 275. 



Coloration. In winter the forehead, supercilia, a ring round the 

 neck, and the lower parts, including wing-lining and axillaries, 

 are white : crown, a streak from the lores including the orbit 

 and ear-coverts, but widest beneath the eye, a partial collar widely 

 interrupted in front on the upper breast, and all the upper parts 

 from the neck brown ; primaries blackish, the first with the shaft 

 white throughout, the others with part of the shaft white some 

 distance from the tip ; a patch in the middle of the outer web in 

 the inner primaries, and all tips and borders of secondaries, white ; 

 the four middle rectrices blackish brown, next pair with tips and 

 outer webs white, the two outer pairs white throughout. 



In breeding-plumage the crown is more or less changed to pale 

 rusty red, above the frontal white band is a broad black sinciput, 

 the band from the lores beneath the eye also black, and so is a 

 large patch on each side of the upper breast. 



Bill black ; irides brown ; bill dusky grey or blackish (Jerdori). 



Length 6-5 ; tail 1*9 ; wing 4*25 ; tarsus 1-1 ; bill from gape *8. 



Distribution. Europe, Africa, the greater part of Asia and 

 Australia. Chiefly a winter visitor to India, occurring throughout 

 the Empire ; a few birds remaining to breed in particular localities. 



Habits, $c. This Plover resembles the Sand-Plovers in habits, 

 and, like them, is chiefly found on the sea-coast, though a few 

 birds are occasionally seen inland. It has been found breeding 

 by Legge near Hambanthota, Trincomati, and other places in. 

 Ceylon in June aud July ; by Butler at Jashk, on the Makran 

 coast, in May ; by Mr. Gumming in April and May near Karachi ; 

 and by Mr. H. Bulkley at Kharaghora, in Guzerat, early in 

 August. The eggs are normally four in number, of the usual shape 

 and colour, but more scratchily blotched than usual. Ceylon eggs 

 measured about 1'16 by *87. 



1447. JEgialitis dubia. The Little Ringed Plover. 



Charadrius dubius, Scop. Del. Faun, et Flor. Insubr. ii, p. 93 (1786). 

 Charadrius curonicus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 692 (1788). 

 Charadrius philippinus, Lath. Ind. Orn.ii, p. 745 (1790). 

 Charadrius minor, Wolf fy Meyer, Natury. Vdg. Deutschl. p. 182 



(1805); Seebohm, Charadr. p. 130. 

 Charadrius fluviatilis, Bechst. Nature/. Deutschl. ed. 2, iv, p. 322 



(1809). 



Charadrius minutus, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii, p. 145 (1811). 

 Charadrius pusillus, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 187 (1821). 

 Hiaticula philippina & H. pusilla, Blyth, Cat. pp. 263, 264. 

 YOL. IV. B 



