478 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



about the middle of March. All the individuals which arrive from 

 that date up to the middle of April are handsome old birds in 

 perfect plumage, the minute markings of the head and neck being 

 composed of the purest snowy white and of the deepest black. 



The migration of the young birds in summer takes place as 

 early as that of the old ones in spring ; in fact, they are, almost 

 always, the first of all the arrivals from the parental nests. 

 Their calls, which are somewhat higher pitched, and less clear 

 than those of the old birds, may be heard intermingled with 

 those of the Redshank (Totanus calidris), in fine warm weather, 

 as early as the last days of June and the 1st of July. The 

 first young Starlings, indeed, arrive from ten to twelve days 

 earlier, and are, without exception, the first arrivals on the return 

 migration. 



The northern limit of the breeding range of this Plover extends 

 from Greenland across Iceland, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, the 

 Taimyr Peninsula, as far as Behring's Strait. Captain Feilden 

 killed a female, which he suspected to be breeding there, in Buchanan 

 Strait, Smith Sound, in 78 48 ' N. lat. ; and Malmgren (Saunders : 

 Yarrell's British Birds, iii. 259) met with a brood on the Seven 

 Islands to the north of Spitzbergen, in lat. 80 45 ' N. From these 

 northern latitudes southwards, the species has been found breed- 

 ing on almost all the sea-coasts and inland seas of northern Europe 

 and Asia, while it occurs as a straggler as far south as the west 

 coast of France, and also in Turkestan. 



274. Kentish Plover [SEEREGENPFEIFER]. 

 CHARADRIUS CANTIANUS, Latham. 1 



Heligolandish : Road-hoaded Kiiker = Red-headed Ringed Plover. 

 Charadrius cantianus. Naumann, vii. 210. 



Kentish Plover. Dresser, vii. 483. 



Pluvier a collier interrompu. Teiuminck, Manuel, ii. 544, iv. 358. 



This small and prettily marked bird is of infinitely rarer occur- 

 rence on this island than its larger relative described above. 

 One cannot by any means be certain of obtaining, in the course of 

 each spring, even a single old example in perfect plumage, or of 

 meeting with^ one or two young birds during the summer months ; 

 this is the more surprising, as the bird is a common breeding species 

 only about thirty miles off, on the coast and islands of Sleswick- 

 Holstein. This affords evidence of the decided objection which 

 many species have for a westering migration flight; whereas 



1 JEyialitis cantiana (Latham). 



