CHARADR1N.E. 331 



THE INDIAN RINGED PLOVER. 



Length, 7*25 ; expanse, 13'5 ; wing, 4'5 ; tail, 2'5 ; tarsus, 1 ; 

 bill at front, 0'56. 



Bill black, yellowish at the base ; irides deep brown ; orbits 

 yellow ; legs yellow. 



Frontal zone white, followed by a black band edged with 

 white, which passes over the eyes as a superciliary mark ; lores 

 black, passing under the eyes through the ear-coverts ; chin, 

 throat, and lower face, passing as a collar round the hind-neck, 

 white, succeeded by .a broadish black zone or ring which 

 borders the white ring, gradually narrowing behind; upper 

 plumage "cinereous brown ; quills brown ; tail, with the central 

 feathers ashy-brown, tipped dark-brown, the outermost feathers 

 nearly all white, with a brown spot on the inner web, gradually 

 increasing in extent and becoming ashy at the base ; lower 

 plumage and under wing-coverts white. 



The Indian Ringed Plover is a common permanent resident 

 throughout the region. It breeds during March and April ; the 

 eggs are deposited in a depression, scraped in the sand, near the 

 waters' edge ; they are usually four in number, and are moder- 

 ately elongated ovals, pinched at the small end ; the shell is 

 fine and compact, but without gloss. They are of a fawn or 

 buffy-stone color, spotted and marked with lines and figures of 

 blackish-brown, with a few underlying markings of pale inky- 

 purple. 



They measure 1*14 inches in length by 0'84 in breadth. 



JEgialitis minuta, Pall 



850. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 641 ; Butler, Deccan ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 426 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central 

 India; Ibis, 1885, p. 132. 



THE LESSER RINGED PLOVER. 



Length, 675 ; expanse, 12'25 ; wing, 4'08 ; tail, 2'1 ; tarsus. 

 0'92 ; bill from gape, 0'56. 



Bill blackish, intense yellow at base beneath and gape ; irides 

 dark-brown ; legs bluish-grey ; eyelids yellow. 



Very similar to the last but smaller altogether, and with 

 proportionally much smaller legs and feet. The upper plumage 

 is of a somewhat darker shade ; the quills are also blacker ; the 

 lateral tail-feathers have more white ; the base of the lower 

 mandible is more yellow (this at once serves to distinguish 

 the two), and the tertiaries are less lengthened. 



The distinctness of this species from the last is disputed by 

 many, but Mr. Hume has in " Stray Feathers," at various times, 

 clearly pointed out the differences. It has not been recorded 

 from Sind. Its mode of modification resembles that of the 

 preceding species in all respects. 



