THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 479 



hundreds of others, in countless numbers, follow such a course every 

 autumn, almost from one side of the Old World to the other. 



In a very handsome but somewhat small old male, preserved in 

 my collection, the whole of the forehead, from a very narrow black 

 streak at the base of the beak far down to the nape of the neck, is of 

 a beautiful light orange-brown colour ; on the top of the head only 

 a few grey feathers of the winter plumage are to be seen ; the upper 

 ear-coverts have only a faint tinge of brownish, and the black 

 patch on each side of the breast is very small. The three outer 

 pairs of tail-feathers are pure white, tho colour of the back first 

 making its appearance on the inner web, and the tip of the outer 

 web of the fourth pair. I shot this lovely specimen many years 

 ago, and I have never obtained one like it again. 



The breeding range of this Plover extends from western Europe 

 to eastern Asia ; it only nests on the sea-coasts, or on the shores 

 of inland salt-water lakes. In the north its breeding range does 

 not reach further than lower Scandinavia, while the Caspian and 

 the Salt Lakes of Turkestan form its southern limit. 



275. Lesser Ringed Plover [FLUSSREGENPFEIFER]. 

 CHARADRIUS MINOR, Wolf and Meyer. 1 



Heligolandish : Liitj K.iilieT= Little Ringed Plover. 



Charadrius minor. Naumann, vi. 225. 



Lesser Ringed Plover. Dresser, vii. 491. 



Petit pluvier a collier. Temminck, Manuel, ii. 542, iv. 357. 



While the preceding is exclusively a frequenter of the sea- 

 shore and the banks of salt-water lakes, the present species, 

 which is also the smallest of the European Plovers, displays a 

 decided preference for the sides of rivers and fresh-water lakes, 

 and is hardly ever found on the sea-coast. These haunts, com- 

 bined with the fact that Heligoland lies only a few degrees 

 south of the northern limits of its breeding range, will suffi- 

 ciently account for its rare occurrence on the island. During 

 the last fifty years this bird has only been seen and shot twice, 

 both examples being in my collection. One of them is an old 

 male in spring plumage, which was shot by my son Ludwig in 

 June 1866 ; the other is a young bird of the year, not more than 

 six or eight weeks old, the feathers of the upper parts having 

 light-coloured margins. 



The nesting stations of this species extend from Portugal to 

 China, but small numbers advance as far north as Scandinavia. 



1 JZgicditis curonica {Gmel. ). 



