on the Egyptian Plover.



141



Seebolim in his Geographical Distribution of the Charadriidce

(1887) page 248, under Variations, writes:—“Examples from

West Africa appear to be slightly smaller than those from Egypt,

the former varying in length of wing from 5^0 to 5 - i inches, and

the latter from 5-2 to 5^5 inches.” I do not know if this

difference has been corroborated by later authors : the only skin

by me as I write, from Roseires, Blue Nile, has the wing a full

5 - 5 inches in length.


Both in colour and markings, the Egyptian Plover is, to

my mind, one of the most charming of birds, a combination of

a most beautiful pale, clear, bluish-grey on the upper surfaces

and a lovely shade of buff on the lower, with strongly defined

intense black and pure white on the head, neck, back, wing

quills and end of tail feathers. The black band which divides

the neck from the body is very well shown in Mr. Berridge’s

photograph. The white line 011 each side of the head which

passes over the eye is continued into long, hanging, white

plumes on the neck, these “ ear-tufts ” are reminiscent of

those of the Demoiselle Crane in miniature, but in the Plover

they meet on the back of the neck. The bill is black, except

for a pale grey spot below the base of the lower mandible

(clearly shown in the photograph). The legs are bluish-grey.

Elegance and daintiness characterize the Egyptian Plover in

colour, form and movements.


Its favourite haunts are the banks and islands of the river,

whether these be of sand, mud or rocks I have seen it almost

equally abundant. It usually flies very low over the surface of the

water, crying shrilly as it flies. Its cry has been rendered “ tscliip,

tschip, troi't.” It is an extremely tame and confiding bird. Mr.

A. E. Butler in his excellent paper on “The Ornithology of the

Egyptian Soudan,” published in The Ibis for July, 1905, writes of

the Egyptian Plover : “ Though very seldom leaving the margin

of the river, it will sometimes take to frequenting a native village

a few hundred yards inland. It then becomes more than usually

fearless, tripping about the spaces and ‘zaribas’ among the

tethered goats, or standing on the roofs of the mud-buildings

within a few feet of a passer by.” I have also noticed this, and

•seen Egyptian Plovers feeding among domestic poultry in the



