ASIATIC GOLDEN PLOVER. 161 



specimen of tliis denizen of Asia, "which, always excepting that extra- 

 ordinary rendezvous for exotic and little-known species — Heligoland, is 

 the only spot in Europe in which it has hitherto been found. This 

 example was shot in May, 1861, and consequently it was in summer 

 plumage; and before handling it I mistook it for a small specimen of 

 C. pluvialis in bad condition. It was possessed by a Maltese bird- 

 stuffer, merely on account of its being in a state of plumage not 

 noticed before in this island, the common Golden Plover, its close 

 ally, being known here only in its winter dress." 



* * * " The legs and toes of C. longipes are more slender, and 

 the general appearance is smaller, the head is considerably smaller, 

 and especially remarkable in being much narrower across the tip." 



According to Mr. Swinhoe, (Ibis, 1863, p. 404,) this species is 

 common near Canton, and passes the summer there. In Formosa it 

 remains all the year round, breeding in great abundance on the south- 

 west marshy plains. The eggs, four in number, are laid in a loose 

 nest of dried grasses and fibres placed in a hollow. They are of a 

 yellowish grey ground-colour, blotched and spotted with deep blackish 

 sej)ia, and have occasional obsolete purplish grey spots. They do not 

 vary much in size, are narrowed near the end, and measure 1.5 by 

 1.1 inches. 



The specimen from which my figure is taken was kindly sent to me 

 by Mr. Harting. It is a female, and was obtained at Hakodadi, Japan, 

 October 3rd., 1865, by Mr. H. Whitely. The length of the bird in 

 the flesh was nine inches and two eighths, and of the wing six inches 

 and a half. In the skin the tarsus is exactly one inch and three 

 fifths long. Bill one inch. It has the top of the head, neck, back, 

 and upper tail feathers distinctly marked with black and fulvous yellow. 

 Wing feathers black, edged with white on their inner borders. Throat 

 white. Cheeks, sides of neck, and all under parts more or less mottled 

 with indistinct yellow and brown; axillaries grey, like the rest of 

 the under wing; under tail coverts white. Tail feathers grey, with 

 fulvous markings. 



Coloured figures of this species will be found in Jardine's ^^Illus- 

 trations of Ornithology," 1830, pi. 85; in Temminck and Schlegel's 

 "Fauna Japonica," 1842, pi. 62; in Gould's "Birds of Australia," fol. 

 vi., pi. 13; and in Sharpe and Dresser's recently published "Birds of 

 Europe." 



VOL. IV. 



