Contributions to the Ornithology of India, 8fc. 239 



the sub-division of Khulna^ in the district of Jessore^ Province of 

 Lower Bengal, on rather wet ground, in a bare field, from which 

 a crop of rice had been reaped about a month before, found the ac- 

 companying nest and e^g, (along with two other eggs with their 

 shells broken, which I cast away), on which was sitting the pa- 

 rent bird, evidently a female : it flew off" on my approach, and 

 joined a flock of the same species of plover close by, into which 

 I fired, and bagged half a dozen of them." 



The nest is of coarse grass and paddy stems loosely put to- 

 gether, say six inches in diameter and a couple of inches thick, 

 with a slight central depression. The egg^, / should have pro- 

 nounced to be that of the painted snipe and far too small for this 

 present species, but I presume Mr. Rainey is correct. The egg 

 is a moderately broad slightly pyriform oval, with a pale caf^ 

 an lait ground, thickly and boldly blotched with blackish brown ; 

 there are no secondary markings such as characterize plover's 

 eggs, and the shell has a fair amount of gloss. The ^^^ measures 

 1*35 by 0-96. Can this really be the q^"^ of C. fiilvus ? 



It may be well to note that there are three nearly allied golden 

 plovers; viz., the present species from North Eastern Africa, 

 Asia generally, the Indian Archipelago, and Australia ; Pluvialis 

 from Europe, Asia Minor, and many parts of Africa ; and Vir- 

 ginicus from America. 



Fluvialis is at once distinguished by its pure white axillary 

 plumes which are brownish grey in the other two species. 



Fidvus- and Virgirucus differ chiefly in their relative propor- 

 tions, the former being always smaller. The following are di- 

 mensions of the three given by Harting : 



C. virginiciis 

 C. fulvus 

 C. pluvialis 



846.— Oirrepidesmns Geof&oyi, Waghr. 



This, the largest of the small sliore plovers, was met with in 

 thousands in the Kurrachee Harbour, feeding along with its con- 

 geners, Godwits, oystercatchers, turnstones, and the like, on 

 every mud flat. It was equally common, I was told, about the 

 mouths of the Indus, from which locality I saw a sj)ecimen, and 

 in all suitable localities along the coast. With one exception 

 all the very numerous specimens I obtained were in winter 

 plumage ; but one male shot on the 2nd February, has the broad 

 rufous pectoral patch, rufous forehead, rufous collar round the 

 back of the neck, and rufous tinge on many of the scapulars, indi- 

 cative of the breeding plumage. I measured a great number of 



