^GIALITIS GEOFFROYI. 



(THE LARGE SAND-PLOVER.) 



Charadrius asiaticus, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 187 (1821). 



Charadrius geoffroyi, Wagl. Syst. Av. fol. 4, p. 13 (1827); Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Cursores, 

 p. 39 (1864); Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1020 (1873). 



Charadrius rufinus, Blyth, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. xii. p. 169 (1843). 



Hiaticula geoffroyi, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 262 (1849). 



JEgialites leschenaulti (Less.), Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 163. 



Mgialitis geoffroyi (Wagl.), Heugl. Syst. Uebers. Vog. N.O.-Afr. p. 56 (1856) ; Jerdon, B. of 

 Ind. iii. p. 638 (1864) ; Harting, Ibis, 1870, p. 378 ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 404 

 Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 471 ; Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 238 (1872) ; Walden, Ibis, 187S 

 p. 316; Legge, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 489 ; Salvadori, Uccelli di Borneo, p. 318 (1874) 

 Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 400 ; Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. 1875, ix. p. 227 ; Armstrong, Str 

 Feath. 1876, p. 339 ; Hume, t. c. p. 463 ; David & Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 426 (1877) 

 Dresser, B. of Eur. pts. 69, 70 (1878); Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.) p. 455 

 Ball, ibid. 1878, vii. p. 226. 



Cirrepidesmus geoffroyi (Wagl.), Plume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 229, et 1874, p. 288, et 1876, 

 p. 12. 



Sandpiper, Europeans. Kotan, Tamils in Ceylon. 



Oliya, Ola-watuiva, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female (Ceylon). Length 8'5 to 9 - inches; wing 5 - 5 to 5'7, expanse 17'5 ; tail 2-2 ; tarsus 1*5 ; 

 middle toe and claw 1*0 ; bill to gape 1*1 to 2 - 5, at front 087 to - 98. 



Winter plumage. Iris brown ; bill black, yellowish at the base beneath ; tibia and feet slate-bluish or plumbeous, 

 paling to yellowish olive or, in some, fleshy grey. 



Head and upper surface with the wings greyish brown, darker on the least wing-coverts and on the face in front 

 of and beneath the eye, all the feathers edged greyish white, most broadly on the wing-coverts and upper tail- 

 coverts ; the scapulars and tertials with dark shafts ; quills blackish brown, the shafts nearly all white, the central 

 portion of the outer webs of the inner primaries and the tips of the greater coverts white ; tips of rectrices and 

 the laterals entirely (with the exception of a brown wash on the inner web) white ; forehead and a stripe over the 

 eye to a patch, behind it, chin, throat, entire under surface, and under wing pure white ; a light brown loral 

 stripe, more or less conspicuous, connects the gape with the brown facial patch. 



Adult male, breeding-plumage (Nahr el Kebir, Syria). Wing 5 - 6 inches ; tail 2-4 ; tarsus 1-4 ; middle toe and claw 

 0-9; bill to gape 1-12. 



Forehead, chin, and throat as high as the cheeks pure white, sharply defined across the fore neck against the rufous 

 of the chest and the sides of the fore neck, which colour blends on the breast into the white of the underparts : 

 a broad stripe from the bill to the eye, and expandiiig beneath it over the cheeks and ear-coverts, as also an incom- 

 plete band across the forehead, black ; head and upper surface sandy brown, tinged on the sides of the crown and 

 on the hind neck with the rufous of the chest; the margins of the scapular feathers and of the tertials are similarly 

 coloured ; wing-coverts with pale margins ; the lesser coverts darker brown than the greater ; primaries dark 

 brown ; from the 6th to the 10th white on the outer webs, except near the tips, the 1st shaft wholly white, the 

 remainder brownish at the base and white near the tip ; secondaries tipped with white ; upper tail-coverts very 

 pale brownish, broadly margined with white ; tail darker brown, the feathers tipped with white, and the outer 

 wholly of that colour ; under wing-coverts white, and the under surface of the inner webs of the quills mostly 

 white. 



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