938 CIIARADEIUS FULYUS. 



he writes, " to approach, except in a liigh wind, when tliey are very tame ; and a large number may be shot at 

 once as they rise. When disturbed they usually perch in some bare, stony spot." 



Nkl'rfi cation. — Mr. Seebohm found this Golden Plover breeding on the Yenesay, in lat. G9^°, in the early 

 part of July, and took its eggs on the 1.3th of that month. It nests on the wide-spreading tundras of that 

 region, which are covered chiefly with moss and lichen, " sprinkled with patches of bare pebbly ground, and 

 interspersed with hummocky plains, where ground-fruits and gay flowers were growing." The nest was a 

 " mere hollow in the ground upon a piece of turfy land, overgrown with moss and lichen, and was lined with 

 broken stalks of reindeer moss." 



In a series of two clutches of four before me, the only eggs extant of this species, and for an examination 

 of which I am indebted to my friend Mr. Seebohm, one set are light clay-buff and the other very pale buff 

 with an exceedingly faint greenish tiuge in them. The former are richly marked with dark sepia, in the form 

 of large straggly-edged blotches collected in a tolerably well-marked ring round the large end, with numerous 

 large blotches extending quite round the small end ; one specimen is characterized by not a few streaky marks 

 and short lines, chiefly at the small end. The pale clutch are marked with sepia-black clouds at the large end, 

 and the same very dark blots towards the small end, under which are a few specks of bluish grey. In shape 

 they are pyriform, but not much compressed at the point ; the obtuse ends are rather flattened. The first clutch 

 vary in size from T89 to 191 inch, by from 1-27 to T28; the second from T89 to T92, by from 1-27 to T32. 



Genus .EGIALITIS. 



Bill as in Charadrius, varying in robustness. Wings long, reaching to the end of the tail, 

 with the tertials nearly equal to the primaries. Tail short and cuneate. Legs and feet slender ; 

 the tarsus longer in proportion to the toes than in the last ; hind toe wanting. 



Of small size, but stout form. The change to summer plumage chiefly in the head and neck. 



