RINGED PLOVER AND GREATER RINGED PLOVER. 21 



The Ringed Plover is very generally distributed in all suitable localities 

 throughout the British Islands, most common on the sandy coasts, but 

 occurring in considerable numbers in favourable inland districts, as on the 

 banks of large rivers and the shores of lochs. It is found on most of the 

 adjoining islands, including the Orkneys and Shetlands, the Outer Hebrides, 

 and the Channel Islands. 



The geographical distribution of the Ringed Plover differs very widely 

 from that of its two British allies. It breeds much further north and 

 winters further south, and may be regarded as a Western Palaeartic species 

 which has only recently emigrated into Asia. It breeds in Greenland, 

 Iceland, Spitzbergen, and Nova Zembla. It is a regular summer visitor 

 to the whole of Europe north of the Alps, and to Asia at least as far east 

 as the Taimyr peninsula, and possibly as far as Behring's Straits'*. In 

 South Siberia it is not known to have occurred east of Lake Baikal ; but 

 it breeds regularly in Western Siberia and sparingly in Turkestan. It 

 probably passes through Persia on migration, and winters in the basin of 

 the Mediterranean and Africa, where it has been found in almost every 

 part of the continent. It has occurred as an accidental straggler in North- 

 west America, India, and Australia. Heuglin suggests that some remain on 

 the shores of the Red Sea to breed, but the evidence is not at all conclusive. 

 The Ringed Plover has no representative in India nor China; but throughout 

 North America it is replaced by C. semipalmatus, a smaller bird, without 

 the white eye-stripe, and having the web connecting the middle and outer 

 toes at the base slightly more developed than in our bird, but with the 

 same white shaft-streaks on the wing, which it is very difficult to believe 

 are not a much older character than the structure of the feet, and serve to 

 distinguish this species and its allies from the Little Ringed Plover and its 

 allies. 



The large race of Ringed Plover is a resident in the British Islands, as it 

 probably is in the other portions of its range. It is not known that the 

 small race is anywhere a resident ; it is said to leave its winter-quarters in 

 Africa in April and May, and to pass along our coasts from the first week 

 of May to the first week of June. The return migration commences in 

 the end of August arid continues until the end of October. 



The haunts of this bird are the sandy shores of rivers and lakes, and 

 especially of the sea. It loves to frequent the mouths of rivers, where 

 large banks of sand and mud are left exposed at low tide ; and quiet bays 

 and long reaches of sandy shore strewn here and there with shingle and 

 broken shells are places it delights in. Sometimes it may be met with on 

 sandy warrens some distance from any water; and it may frequently be 

 seen amongst the dunes a mile or more from the edge of the sea, and it 



* It is possible that the example obtained by the ' Vega ' expedition may have been a 

 specimen of Charadius placidus. 



