LESSER GOLDEN PLOVER. 163 



The young of this species can always be distinguished by its black or blackish 

 axillaries from the Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricarius) which have white axil- 

 laries, and from the Asiatic Golden Plover (Pluvialis dominicus fulvus) which have 

 the axillaries dusky-brown by being smaller. 



Nestling. Upper-parts greenish-yellow, mixed with black, or dark brown and 

 buff, with a white nuchal collar ; under-surface silky -white. 



Nest. A depression in the earth lined with dry leaves and lichen. 



Eggs. Clutch, four ; ground-colour yellowish-grey to brownish-yellow, covered 

 with dark brown spots ; axis 48 to 56 mm., diameter 36. 



Breeding -season. 'June and July. 



Distribution and forms. Breeding all round the Arctic Circle and migrating 

 southward in winter to Australia, etc. The birds breeding in eastern Siberia and 

 visiting Australia constitute a recognisable race, S. s. hypomelus (Pallas) in their 

 larger size throughout, the bill stouter, and also in winter-plumage paler. 



Genus PLUVIALIS, 



Pluvialis Brisson, Ornith., Vol. I., p. 46, Vol. V., p. 42, 1760. Type (by tautonymy) : 



Pluvialis = Charadrius apricarius Linne. 



Structurally like Squatarola, but with the hind-toe and claw missing. The 

 bill is not quite so stout, and one of the species is less strongly built, but still 

 considerably larger than the Ring- and Sand-Plovers. 



The close connection between this and the preceding genus is easily traced 

 by their general coloration, notwithstanding the absence of the hind-toe. In 

 Squatarola the summer -plumage is mottled black-and-white above with the under- 

 surface black : in the present genus the summer-plumage is mottled black-and- 

 golden above with the under-surface black, but in the former genus the immature 

 has the upper-surface showing a mottled black -and -golden appearance. No other 

 Plovers, save the three included in the two genera Squatarola and Pluvialis, have 

 the upper-surface mottled, nor have they uniform black under-surfaces. 



113. Pluvialis dominicus. LESSER GOLDEN PLOVER, 



[Charadrius dominicus P. L. S. Muller, Vollst. Natursyst. Suppl., p. 116, pref. Jan. 4th, 1776 : 

 St. Domingo, America. Extra-limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VI., pi. 13 (pt. xxxi.), June 1st, 1848. Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 1, pi. 133, April 

 2nd, 1913. 



Charadrius fulvus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., Vol. L, pt. n., p. 687, April 20th, 1789 : Tahiti. 



Charadrius griseus Latham, Index Ornith., Suppl., p. LXVII., 1801, after May: New South 



Wales, based on Watling drawing No. 245. 



Charadrius tailensis Lesson, Diet. Sci. Nat. (Levrault), Vol. XLIL, p. 35, Sept. 23rd, 1826 : 



Tahiti. 



Charadrius xanthocheilus Wagler, Syst. Av. Charadr., sp. 36, p. (68), Oct. 1827 : Australia. 



Charadrius glaucopus Wagler, Isis, 1829, heft 6, col. 649, June (ex Forster MS.) : Tahiti. 



Charadrius pluvialis orientalis Temminck und Schlegel, Fauna Japonica (Siebold), p. 104, 



1849 : Japan. 



Charadrius auratus longipes Schlegel, Vogel von Nederl., p. 411, 1854 : East Asia. 



DISTRIBUTION. Winter visitor to Australia, breeding in the northern hemisphere. 



Adult male in breeding-plumage. Crown of head, entire back, and scapulars 

 black, thickly spangled with golden-buff, becoming paler and inclining to brown 

 and white on the upper wing-coverts ; greater coverts brown, edged with white ; 

 bastard-wing brown, small coverts on the margin of the wing dark brown tipped 

 with white like the primary -coverts ; primary-quills dark brown, paler on the inner 

 -webs, and white on a portion of the shafts towards the tip ; secondaries brown, white 



M 2 



