CHAEADEIUS; 



Charadrius fulvus, var. virglnicus (Licht.), Coues, Key N.-Amer. Birds, p. 243 (1872). 

 Charadrius pluvialis, var. virginicus {Licht.), Ridgway, Ann. Lye. x. p. 383 (1874). 



101 



Plates.— Wilson, Am. Orn. pi. 50. fig. 5; Audubon, Birds Am. v. pi. 316. 

 Habits. — Baird, Brewer, & Ridgway, Water-Birds N. Amer. i. p. 139. 

 Eggs. — Absolutely indistinguishable from those of the Asiatic Golden Plover. 



Literature. 



tion. 



The Eastern Golden Plover is represented on the American continent by a species so Geographi- 

 nearly allied to the Asiatic bird that there can be little doubt that it is conspecific with it. "^^ distribu- 

 The American Golden Plover ( Charadrius americanus) is a slightly larger bird, varying in 

 length of wing from 6-8 to 7-5 inch; the wing of the Asiatic species varying from 6-0 to 

 6-7 inch. The innermost secondaries of the American bird are supposed to be relatively 

 shorter, the distance from their tips to the tip of the wing varying from 1^ to 2 inches, 

 whilst in the Asiatic species it usually measures only from 0-5 to O'S inch. What appear 

 to be intermediate forms occur on the Pacific coast of Asia. Examples from Japan, China, 

 Formosa, Hainan, Borneo, and Cape York vary in length of wing from 6-2 to 69 inch, 

 and in distance from the tips of the innermost secondaries to the tip of the wing from 

 1-2 to 2-3 inch. 



The American Golden Plover is an exclusively arctic bird, in summer breeding on the 

 moors above the limit of forest-growth (Blakiston, Ibis, 1863, p. 129), from Alaska to 

 Greenland (Reinhardt, Ibis, 1861, p. 9). In autumn it migrates southwards (Newton, 

 Ibis, 1859, p. 255), to winter in South America. On migration it passes the Bermudas in 

 large flocks (Reid, Zoologist, 1877, p. 474), and has once occurred on Heligoland (Seebohm, 

 Ibis, 1877, p. 165), and once on the European continent (Gurney, Ibis, 1883, p. 198). 

 It appears for the most part to winter south of the tropics (Taczanowski, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1874, p. 559), and has occurred as far south as Chili on the west coast (Bridges, Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. 1843, p. 118), and Buenos Ayres on the east (Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 197). 



It does not diff'er in its habits or in the changes of its plumage from its Asiatic ally, 

 from which it can only be separated with great difficulty. 



