THE SAND-PLOVERS. 167 



Adult Female.- -Similar to the male, but ^yith less rufous oh 

 the head, this being represented by a tinge over the eye and 

 round the nape, the black band on the fore part of the crown 

 absent, the black patch on each side of the chest represented 

 by a brown patch with a rufous tinge. Total length, 6*5 inches ; 

 culmen, 07 ; wing, 4*3 ; tail, i m g ; tarsus, i'i. 



Adult in Winter Plumage. Differs from the summer plumage 

 in the entire absence of bright rufous on the head, and the 

 black markings on the face and sides of the breast are also 

 not developed. The head is like the back ; the forehead 

 and eyebrow are white, the lores dusky, and there is always a 

 more or less distinct white collar united to the two sides of the 

 neck. 



Young Birds in First Winter Plumage. Only differ from the 

 adults in having the whole upper surface distinctly marked 

 with pale edges to the feathers. 



Characters. The Kentish Sand-Plover may be recognised at 

 all ages by its black legs and feet. The crown of the head 

 in the adult birds is rufous as well as the nape; round the 

 hind-neck is a white collar. On the sides of the breast is a 

 black patch, which does not meet across the fore-neck to form 

 a collar. In the young birds the black legs and white collar on 

 the hind-neck are the best characteristics. 



Range in Great Britain. The present species is a migrant to 

 England, especially to the south-eastern counties, arriving in 

 April, and leaving at the end of September. It has also been 

 obtained on the east coast in October ; but, as Mr. Howard 

 Saunders points out, such birds are probably migrants from the 

 Continent. It it chiefly known as an inhabitant of the shingly 

 beaches of Kent and Sussex, but is much less plentiful now than 

 formerly. It has been met with, on rare occasions, in Devon- 

 shire and Cornwall, and is a very scarce visitor to Ireland. It 

 is plentiful, however, on seme of the Channel Islands. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Kentish Sand-Plover is 

 spread over the greater part of the Old World, but does not 

 range very far north, being rare in the Baltic, but more com- 

 mon in Denmark and the Netherlands; it has occurred once 

 in Norway, but is found regularly in South Sweden. In France, 



