THE ISLANDS OF THE BAY OF BENGAL. 287 



844.— Squatarola helvetica, Lin. (1.) 



I observed several of this species on the Jolly Boys in Mac- 

 plierson's Straits where they were very wild. Davison also 

 says that he " only secured a single specimen of this bird which 

 I shot at Port Mouat, South Andamaus, feeding on the black 

 mud left bare by the receding tide. I did not see it at the 

 Nicobars.'" 



845.— Cliaradrms fulvus, Om. (25.) 



In regard to the distinctions between this species, the Euro" 

 pean pluvialis, and the American virginicus, vide ante, Stray 

 Feathers, 1873, p. 229. What I wish specially here to remark 

 is that Mr. Hartings' dimensions of the bill and tarsus of this 

 present species, viz., - 8 to 09 and 1*5 will not hold good. I 

 have taken the trouble to measure some twenty specimens 

 from Sumatra, various islands of the Nicobar, and Andaman 

 groups, Ceylon, various places in the continent of India and 

 Yarkand, in the very smallest bird, the tarsus is 1*6, in several 

 it is over 1*7, and in one Acheen bird it is 1*87. Again, as to 

 the bills, though many of them do vary from 0*8 to 09, in no 

 less than three out of twenty, they exceed an inch. As 

 regards the wings, however, he seems quite correct ; in none of 

 the specimens do the wings exceed 6*6. Almost all our insular 

 specimens, even those killed in January, exhibited more or less 

 of the summer plumage, and one killed on the 1st of May had. 

 many of the abdominal feathers black. On the continent of 

 India they assume the summer plumage earlier; a specimen 

 killed at Raipoor, Central Provinces, on the 27th April, is in 

 full summer plumage. 



We met with these plovers occasionally the whole way from 

 Calcutta to Galatea Bay ; a flock passed over us when we were 

 just beyond the Sandheads ; we saw another flock when we 

 were at sea about opposite Diamond Island ; we shot them at 

 Preparis and saw them at the Cocos, and shot or saw them at 

 many of the islands of both groups, besides getting specimens at 

 Acheen, but at the same time we nowhere saw them in huge 

 flocks of several hundreds, or even thousands, as one meets 

 with them on the continent of India. In India again they are 

 generally to be met with inland ; in the islands 1 always saw 

 them along the sea coast. Davision however says : — " I found, 

 this plover numerous in paddy fiats and gardens about Aber- 

 deen, South Andaman, and also in the cotton fields on Camorta, 

 Nicobars. I also met with it on Chowra and several other 

 islands of the Nicobar group, and I think, but am not positive. 



