SOCIABLE PLOVER 235 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH 11'5 in. 



WING 7'75 ,, 



BEAK T25 



TARSO-METATARSUS ... ... T75 ,, 



EGG ... 1'9 X 1-4 in. 



SOCIABLE PLOYER. Vanellus gregarius (Pallas). 



Coloured Figures. Dresser, 'Birds of Europe,' vol. vii, pi. 528 ; 

 Lilford, ' Coloured Figures,' vol. v, pi. 7. 



The Sociable Plover is a south-eastern species, which 

 among other countries, inhabits " the Steppes of the Crimea 

 and of the district between the Don, the Volga and the 

 Caucasus, as well as the Aralo-Caspian area and Turkestan" 

 (Saunders). In the year 1860 an immature bird wandered 

 to England, and was shot among a flock of Green Plover, 

 near St. Michael' s-on-Wyre, in Lancashire. 



After a lapse of thirty-nine years, a female in the second 

 year's plumage was secured in Ireland (the first on record 

 in that country), and was sent to Messrs. Williams and 

 Son, of Dublin, for preservation (Plate XV., fig. 2). It 

 was shot on August 1st, 1899, near Navan, co. Meath. 

 Through the courtesy of the late Mr. E. Williams I was 

 privileged to examine this Irish rarity in the flesh, and to 

 make several measurements before it was mounted. 2 



An account of the capture, a description of the plumage, 

 and a photograph of the bird itself, are embodied in an 

 article published by the late Mr. E. Williams in the ' Irish 

 Naturalist,' vol. viii. 1899, p. 233. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head, glossy 

 black ; above the eye is a broad white band which extends 



2 I found that the total length was 11-8 in. 



\Ving 8 



Tibio-tarsus ... ... ... 2'5 



Tarso-metatarsus 2'75 



Hallux 0'25 



Beak 1-12 



