742 .EGIALITIS 



South America; has occurred once in Hants and once on 

 Tresco, one of the Scilly Islands. 



Frequents not only the coast, but is also found far inland, 

 and is a noisy, restless bird, though not particularly shy. It 

 runs with great swiftness, and is equally active on the wing. 

 Its food consists of insects, worms, and Crustacea. It breeds 

 from April to June, the nest being a mere depression in the 

 ground, sparingly lined with a few grass-bents, and it is usually 

 found nesting inland. The eggs, 4 in number, are pale clay buff 

 or ochreous, blotched and spotted with black, with a few paler 

 shell-markings, and occasionally with a few black streaks and 

 lines ; in size they average T55 by 112. 



1034. KITTLITZ'S PLOVER. 

 ^BGIALITIS PECUARIA. 



itis pecuaria (Temm.), PI. Col. v. pi. 183 (1823) ; Halting, P.Z.S. 

 1874, p. 457, pi. Ix. fig. 4 (egg) ; Dresser, ix. p. 341, pi. 709 ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxiv. p. 297 ; Charadrius Jcittlitzi, Reichenb. 

 Syn. Av. ii. Tab. cv. fig. 1063 (1851) ; Layard, B. S. Af. p. 297 ; 

 jE. varia, Harting, Ibis, 1873, p. 262, pi. viii. (nee. Linn.). 



Kanliiapraia, in Benguela ; Vikiviky, Kiboranto, Malagasy. 



(J ad. (Nile). Forehead, a broad line passing through the eye to the 

 nape, chin, and throat white ; a narrow line on the fore crown, lores, and 

 a band below the eye down the sides of the neck black ; upper parts 

 dusky brown ; secondaries margined with white at the tips ; middle tail- 

 feathers dusky brown, the outermost pure white, the rest greyish white ; 

 lower throat and breast ochraceous rufous ; rest of under parts, under 

 wing-coverts, and axillaries white ; bill and legs blackish ; iris dark brown. 

 Culmen 0'74, wing4'0, tail 1'85, tarsus 1'2, bare part of tibia 0'65 inch. 

 Female similar. Young birds lack the black on the forehead, and have the 

 white on the head tinged with rusty red. 



Hob. North-east Africa from the Nile Delta, and the whole 

 of Africa, except the extreme north-western portions, down to 

 the Cape and Madagascar. 



In general habits it most nearly resembles the Little Ringed 

 Plover. It breeds inland, though at no great distance from 

 water, in South Africa in September, depositing its 4 eggs on 

 the ground without making any regular nest. The eggs are 

 olive-brown, irregularly and profusely marked with fine lines 

 and spots of black, and measure about 1*21 by 0'82. 



