7 4 4 EUDROM1ASPL U VIA NUS 



altitudes in the central portion, making no nest, but depositing 

 late in May or early in June its 3 eggs, in a depression in the 

 moss or herbage on the ground. The eggs are light stone-buff 

 or dull buff sometimes with a green tinge, boldly blotched with 

 black, some having a few dark purplish underlying shell- 

 markings; in size they measure about 1*55 by 1*8. 



PLUVIANUS, Vieill., 1816. 



1036. BLACK-HEADED PLOVER. 



PLUVIANUS ^IGYPTIUS. 



Pluvianus cegyptius (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 254 (1766) ; Gould, B. of As. 

 vii. pi. 62 ; Dresser, vii. p. 521, pi. 527 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. 

 xxiv. p. 32 ; PL melanocephalus (Gmel.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 692 



(1788). 



Ter-el-temsack, Arab. 



ad. (Egypt). Crown, sides of head, hind neck, back, and a band 

 passing round and meeting on the breast purplish black ; a band all round 

 the crown, rump, and under parts white ; lesser and median wing-coverts, 

 scapulars, upper tail-coverts, and tail dark blue-grey, the tail tipped with 

 white ; all but the middle feathers with a subterminal black band ; abdo- 

 men, throat, and under tail-coverts washed with creamy rufescent ; bill 

 blackish ; legs blue-grey ; iris dark brown. Cnlmen 0'9, wing 5'5, 

 tail 2'65, tarsus T38. Sexes alike. 



Hob. Africa north to the Mediterranean, south to Angola 

 on the west coast, and Nubia, the Blue and White Nile on the 

 east side ; Algeria ; of rare or doubtful occurrence north of the 

 Mediterranean, except in Palestine, where it has been obtained 

 in the Jordan valley ; is said to have once occurred in Sweden. 



The present species, which is said to be the Trochilos of 

 Herodotus, frequents sand-banks and the banks of rivers, and is 

 extremely tame and confiding. During the breeding season it 

 is noisy, its cry resembling the syllables ting-ting-ting-ting and 

 tschi-tschi-tschi-tscki. Its food consists of worms, insects, and 

 larvae. It does not make any regular nest, but deposits its 2 

 eggs in a depression in the sand. These are not unlike those 

 of the Cream-coloured Courser, are without gloss, somewhat 

 coarse in grain, brownish ochreous in ground-colour, closely 

 marked with ashy grey, yellowish brown, and reddish brown 

 blotches and dots, and measure about 1'25 by 0*95. 



