VANELLIJS. 



211 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The Common Lapwing may be distinguislied at all ages and seasons by its combinatioti Specific 



c 11 {irfi c t p rs 



of two characters — the presence of metallic gloss on most of the feathers of the upper parts, 

 and the absence of white on the wing-coverts. It is also the only Lapwing which has chestnut- 

 huff upper and under tail-coverts. 



The Common Lapwing has an undoubted right to its name. It is questionable 

 whether any other species of the genus is as numerous, and it is certain that none has so 

 wide a range. It is found halfway round the world, breeding from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific, and occasionally invading the American continent at each extremity of its range in 

 Greenland and in Alaska. In Scandinavia it breeds as far north as the Arctic Circle, but 

 in Siberia not further than lat. 55°. To the colder portion of its range it is only a summer 

 visitor, but in the British Islands and i>i Central Europe south of the Baltic it is a resident. 

 Its winter-quarters are North Africa (including the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores), 

 the basin of the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, Persia, North India, China, and Southern 

 Japan. 



Its nearest ally is doubtless V. resplendens, a species inhabiting the Andes of Ecuador Nearest ally 

 and Peru. 



VANELLUS GREGARIUS. 



80GIABLU LAPWING. 



Vanellus primarianim interiorum pogoniis internis albis vel albo marginatis, pogoniis externis Diagnosis, 

 nigris. 



2e2 



