CHARADEIUS. 



169 



The Kentish Plover, or Comraon Sand-Plover, may be regarded as the type of a 

 subgenus of Charadrius, to vfhich the name of jEgialopldlus was given by Gould. It 

 belongs to the smaller section of the group, as the wings vary from 4'5 to 4'1 inch in 

 length from the carpal joint. It may be diagnosed from the other small species of this 

 subgenus by its white nuchal collar joining the white throat, in which respect it resembles 

 C. peroni and C. marginatus. Prom the latter it differs in having a dark patch (black in 

 adult male in breeding-dress, otherwise brown) on the side of the breast, but this black 

 patch does not extend round the base of the neck as in the former species. Prom immature 

 examples of C. pecuarius and C. sanctcB-helence it is easily distinguished by the central 

 portion of the shafts of the third primaries being white. 



It may be subdivided into three or four races, the typical or Palsearctic form being 

 distinguished by its black legs. 



So far as is known, the Kentish Plover only breeds on the margins of salt-lakes or on 

 the sea-shore, nevertheless its breeding-range extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It 

 is a regular summer visitor to the coasts of South Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, 

 and Prance. It is a resident on the coasts of Spain, Portugal, the Azores, Canaries, 

 Madeira, and on both shores of the Mediterranean. To the salt-marshes on the steppes of 

 Southern Russia, the shores of the Caspian, the margins of the salt-lakes of Turkestan, 

 South Dauria, and Mongolia it is a summer visitor. The Kentish Plovers which breed in 

 the northernmost portion of their range in Europe appear to winter on the coasts of Africa, 

 where they have been said to stray as far south as the Cape Colony, but I have never seen 

 an example from South Africa. The Asiatic birds winter on the Mekran coast in India, 

 Ceylon, Burma, the Malay peninsula, China, and Japan. 



The black markings on the lores, behind the eyes, above the white forehead, and on 

 the sides of the breast are confined to the male in breeding-dress, and are replaced by 

 brown in the other plumages. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distrihu- 

 tion. 



Seasonal 

 and other 

 chanares. 



CHARADRIUS CANTIANUS MINUTUS. 



TBOPICAL KENTISH PLOVER. 

 Chakadrius CANTIANUS magnitudinc minore. 



It appears completely to intergrade wirh the typical form. 



Diagnosis. 



Variations. 



So far as I have been able to learn no name has been given to this subspecies, though Synonymy. 

 it is possible that the Charadrius alexandrinus of Hasselquist (Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 253) 

 may refer to it. 



