224 CHARADRIID^E 



KILLDEER PLOYER. ^gialitis vocifera (Linnaeus). 



Coloured Figures. Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. ix, pi. 708 ; 

 Lilford, ' Coloured Figures,' vol. v, pi. 13. 



The Killdeer Plover is an exceedingly rare wanderer 

 from America. There are but three British records : 



(a) A specimen said to have been taken in Hampshire, 

 (Christchurch), April, 1859 (Sclater, 'Ibis,' 1862, p. 276). 



(b) A bird shot at Tresco, in the Scilly Isles, on January 

 15th, 1885 (' Zoologist,' 1835, p. 113). 



(c) In ' Knowledge and Scientific News ' for August, 

 1904, vol. i, p. 187, Mr. W. P. Pycraft writes that he has 

 found in University Museum, Aberdeen, an example of 

 Killdeer Plover (JEg. voc.) which had been erroneously 

 labelled as the Kinged Plover (Mg. Mat), shot at Peter- 

 head, in 1867, by Mr. Andrew Murray. This is the third 

 record from Britain. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Forehead, white, above 

 which is a black band ; behind the eye there is a white line ; 

 top of head, cheeks, hind-neck, back, scapulars, and wing- 

 coverts, brown ; alar bar, white; some of the long inner 

 secondaries margined with rufous ; primaries, dark brown, 

 marked with white ; lower back, and basal portion of the tail, 

 reddish-brown; terminal part of the tail banded with black 

 and tipped with white ; throat, breast, and abdomen, white, 

 interrupted by two black bands across the base of the neck. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar to the male plumage. 



Adult winter, male and female. Resembles the nuptial 

 plumage, but the back and wings are darker brown. 



Immature, male and female. Resembles the adult 

 plumage except that the feathers of the back and wings 

 are margined with greyish-red. 



BEAK. Black. 



FEET. Yellowish-grey. 



IRIDES. Brown. 



EGGS. Creamy-white, blotched with dark purple-brown : 

 clutch, four. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... 9*5 in. 



WING ... 6-5 ,, 



BEAK 0'9 ,, 



TARSO-METATARSUS ... 1'4 



EGG ... 1'6 X I'l in. 



