LITTLE RINGED PLOVER. 265 



Harvie-Brown ; but south of that, it occurs throughout 

 Siberia and Turkestan, where it breeds up to an altitude 

 of 4,000 feet; and in China and Japan, where it also 

 breeds. It can be traced from Palestine, through Persia 

 and Afghanistan, to Kashgar, where Dr. Scully obtained it 

 at an elevation of 12,000 feet, and procured a young bird 

 in the month of December ; it visits the Mekran coast and 

 the greater part of India in winter ; in Ceylon it is said to 

 be resident; and it ranges onwards from Burmah to the 

 Philippines and the Moluccas. 



A small Plover, said to have been obtained at San 

 Francisco, and described as a new species by Mr. Bidgway, 

 under the name of Mgialitis microrhyncha, was subse- 

 quently identified by him with ^E. curonica, but Mr. Bidg- 

 way now considers it very doubtful whether the locality given 

 on the label was correct. 



In the adult bird the beak is black, except at the base of 

 the lower mandible, where it is yellow; the irides dark 

 brown; eye-lids bright yellow; the forehead white, with 

 a black patch above it extending to the eye on each side ; 

 top of the head and the occiput ash-brown ; lore and ear- 

 coverts black ; nape of the neck white ; below this a collar 

 of black ; back, scapulars, wing-coverts, tertials, rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts, ash-brown ; primary and secondary wing- 

 feathers dusky brown ; these and the greater wing-coverts 

 edged with white ; the first primary quill-feather only with 

 a broad white shaft ; tail-feathers ash-brown at the base, 

 darker towards the end ; the five outer tail-feathers on 

 each side white at the end, this colour increasing in extent 

 on each lateral feather, the outer one on each side having 

 only a dusky spot on the inner web, but this appears to 

 be constant at all ages : chin and throat white, this colour 

 extending from the latter round the nape of the neck; 

 below this and above the breast is a collar of black ; the 

 breast itself, the belly, vent, and under tail-coverts, pure 

 white ; legs and toes dull yellow ; the claws black. 



Adult specimens generally measure six inches and one- 

 quarter. From the carpal joint to the end of the wing, 



VOL. m. MM 



