60 Mr. W. L. Sclater on Birds collected 



731. ^Egialitis marginata tenella. 



P. Tete, Sept. (I J, 1 juv.). 



The White-fronted Sand-Plover of East and South-East 

 Africa must be, I consider, referred to Charadrius tenellus 

 Hartl., originally described from Mydagascar. It does not 

 seem to have anything to do with Charadrius pallidus 

 Strickl., from Daniaraland, the type of which, now in the 

 Cambridge Museum, I have been allowed to examine by tlie 

 kindness of Dr. H. Gadow. This is a very pale bird with 

 no tawny about it. The wing measures 100 cm. and the 

 tarsus, which seemed to me very long, about 28 cm,, as 

 compared with 95 and 22 in ^^. m. tenella. On the other 

 hand, as in the '^tenella'''' race and in the West Afr'umn 

 species, the inner secondaries are dark brown slightly edged 

 with white. The West African form will probably be quite 

 a recognisable race when sufficient good material has accu- 

 mulated in the Museum to make a satisfactory comparison, 



[This is the Common Sand-Plover of all the coast localities 

 visited, but except in the Zambesi region it was not ob- 

 served on any of the inland rivers. I have always noted it 

 on sandy stretches, and in habits it resembles jE. hiaticola ; 

 the cry is also somewhat alike, but lower in tone. 



The soft parts are : — Irides brown ; bill blackish ; legs 

 and toes grey-flesh-coloured.] 



735. Recurvirostra avocetta. 

 CC. Durban Road, Sept. (1). 



737. NUMENIUS PH.EOPUS. 



CC. Plettenberg Bay, Mch. 23 (1 ? ) ; P. Inhambane, 

 Sept. 25 (1 ? ). 



[The Whimbrel is common in luost of the harbours 

 round the coast, especially in the summer season. In 

 Inhambane and Beira Harbours I have seen it in flocks of 

 from twenty to thirty, but when in such numbers it is usually 

 very wild. The call is a whistle, generally, but not always, 

 repeated seven times.] 



