494 CHARADRIID.E. 



and Genoa in every state of plumage. It is sometimes 

 seen in Sicily in the spring on its passage northward. It 

 has been met with on the shores of the Black Sea : Dr. A. 

 Smith brought specimens from South Africa ; it has been 

 found in India, M. Temminck has received it from Japan, 

 and the island of Sunda and New Guinea. 



An adult male in summer plumage, killed on the 12th 

 of June, the bird from which the figure was drawn, has the 

 beak black ; irides brown ; the feathers on the top of the 

 head and back of the neck black in the centre, edged with 

 rufous ; interscapulars, scapulars, tertials, back, and rump, 

 black, each feather edged with red ; wing-coverts greyish 

 black ; wing-primaries black on the outer web, greyish 

 white on the inner web, the shaft white ; middle tail-fea- 

 thers rather pointed and greyish black, the others greyish 

 white ; chin, throat, sides of the neck and upper part of 

 the breast, covered with small spots of rufous and black on 

 a white ground ; all the under surface of the body and 

 wings pure white ; axillary plume white ; legs, toes, and 

 claws, black ; under surface of the toes dilated and flat. 



In this state of plumage it is the Ruddy Plover of 

 authors. 



The difference between the male and female when in 

 their summer plumage, has been pointed out in the re- 

 marks of Major Sabine. The females are rather larger than 

 the males. 



The whole length of an adult bird is about eight inches. 

 From the carpal joint to the end of the wing, four inches 

 and seven-eighths : the first quill-feather a little longer than 

 the second, and the longest in the wing. 



In winter the plumage on the upper surface of the body 

 is of a very light ash grey, almost white, the shaft of each 

 feather forming a darker streak ; carpal portion of the 



