156 



CHAEADEITJS, 



Synonymy. Charadrius falklandicuSj Latham, Index Orn. ii. p. 747 (1790). 



Charadrius trifasciatus, Lickienstein, Verz. Boull. p. 71 (1823). 

 Charadrius annuligerus^ Wagler, Syst. Av. p. 59 (1827). 

 Charadrius pyrrhocephalus^ Lesson, Voyage Coquille, Zool. p. 719 (1826). 

 Hiaticula bifasciata, Fraser, Proc. Zool. Soc. 184<3, p. 118. 

 Hiaticula falldandica (Lath.), Gray, List Birds Brit. Mus. iii. p. 71 (1844). 



Literature. Plates. — Portlock's Voyage, p. 36. 



Habits.— Abbott, Ibis, 1861, p. 155 ; Gibson, Ibis, 1880, p. 163. 

 Eggs. — Harting, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1874, pi. Ix. fig. 6. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Analogous 

 colour of C. 

 bifrontatus. 



Plumage of 

 young. 



Geographi- 

 cal distrihu- 

 tioii. 



The Patagonian Plover has two dark bands across the breast (which are black in adult, 

 brown in birds of the year, and almost obsolete in young in first plumage) ; the four 

 outer tail-feathers are nearly equal in length, and show scarcely a trace of a dark 

 subterminal bar. It is very closely related to C. bicinctus, which principally differs from 

 it in having, when adult, the lower bar across the breast chestnut instead of black. 



It is very remarkable that the upper half of the forehead is white, whilst the lower 

 half is brownish grey. The only other species of the genus which has this peculiar 

 coloration is C. bifrontatus from Madagascar. It is perhaps only a singular coincidence 

 that both species should have the breast crossed by two dark bands. As the forehead 

 of the young in first plumage is white to the base of the bill in the Falkland-Island 

 species, it is probable that this character has been only recently acquired. Young birds 

 (Durnford, Ibis, 1878, p. 402) further difi'er from adults in having no black band above 

 the white forehead, and in having the two pectoral bands brown instead of black, and 

 sometimes very obscure. Portlock states that the female differs from the male in having 

 no rusty nuchal collar. It is not known that summer plumage difi'ers from that of winter, 

 but it is probable that the rusty nuchal collar is confined to the male in breeding-plumage. 

 It belongs to the group of jEgialophili majores, the wing from carpal joint varying in 

 length from 5*2 to 4' 9 inch ; but it is the only species in the group which has the central 

 upper tail-coverts nearly black, a character very useful in distinguishing very young birds, 

 in which the two dark pectoral bands are sometimes very obscure. 



It is described as a summer visitor to the Falkland Islands, breeding in September 

 and October on the banks near the beach. In Patagonia it appears to be more of an 

 inland bird and a resident, as is also the case near Buenos A.yres, which is probably the 

 northern limit of its range on the Atlantic coast. On the Pacific coast it naturally ranges 

 further north. I have an example from Coquimbo, and it has occurred in many other 

 localities in Chih. 



