PLUVIALIS. CHARAItEirS. 107 



tincruisheJ bv its wliite axillarr wing-featliers as against the Uglit 

 brown feathers of the local forms, while it is also slightly larger — 

 though the latter character would hardly be noticed excej't from 

 a very close comparison. 



'' Considerable ditferences of opinion, too, exist as regards this 

 bird, as to its specific identity with, or difference from, the 

 common smaller Asiatic plover, which is closely similar to it. 

 Quite recently they have been included in one and the same 

 species under the name dominicus. 



'' This idover can readilv be recognised among the other micrrants 

 with which it is found. The beak is short, being slightly shorter 

 than the head, straight, and curving slightly at the tip. The 

 upper plumage is mottled with black and greenish-yellow, which 

 gives a peculiar greenish tinge to the bird. The under surface is 

 either mottled with black and white, the black being in large 

 patches, or is whitish, while the young are much duller through- 

 out. The toes are three in number, the hinder toe being absent. 

 The lentjth of the bodv is nearlv 11 inches. 



*• The American Golden Plovers are known to breed high up in 

 the Arctic regions of Xorth America, from Alaska to Greenland, 

 whither they pass in the early spring through the United States 

 and Canada. At the end of summer, after breeding, they migrate 

 in parties, the greater number of the young birds apparently 

 passing southwards through the United States by an overland 

 route during August and September, while the greater number of 

 older birds start out southwards by a sea-route, past the Bermudas, 

 thence to the West India Islands and South America, in which 

 latter continent they are found as far south as Buenos Ayres. 

 After their extremely long sea-journey, it is said they are some- 

 times so exhausted and tame when they reach the West Indies 

 that thev can be knocked down with sticks and stones.'' 



Genus CHARADRIUS Linn. 



Charaifn'us Linne, Syst. Nat. 10th ed. i. p. 150, 175S. Tyj>? C. hiaticula 

 Linn. 



Tl)e members of this genus differ from those of PluriaJis by 

 tlioir smaller size, white under surface, and the basal web which 

 connects the outer and middle toes. 



