V 4S JiGIALITIS CANTIANA. 



Young. The nestling, when able to follow the parent bird, is fulvous above, with black lines and spottings on the 

 crown and nape, and a velvety-black streak down the centre of the back ; on either side of this streak the back is 

 marked with blackish ; down of the tail black ; beneath the body is white; legs and feet sickly olive-green. 



The immature plumage of the first year is quickly acquired, and resembles that of the adult female ; the forehead i^ 

 white, and the snpercilium whitish ; the nuchal collar is very broad, but interrupted sometimes in the centre. 

 Males and females are alike. 



Obs. An examination of a large series of Kentish Plovers from various parts of the world will show that it is a very 

 variable species as regards size ; and the Ceylon form, particularly as regards females, is, perhaps, the smallest of 

 all, consisting as it does of tropical-bred birds, which must needs be, owing to climatic influence, a stunted race. 

 It is likewise a variable bird as regards plumage, some examples being much more highly tinted with rufous on 

 the head and across the neck than others ; and I think our race will be found to be almost less richly coloured 

 than any other. A male in breeding-plumage, procured by myself in the island of St. Aancent (May), has the 

 rufous bordering very bright and spreading entirely over the crown ; the black frontal band, loral stripe, and chest- 

 patches are intense black : wing 3-95 inches, bill at front 0-68, tarsus 1 - 1. A Sussex male has the wing 4-2, tarsus 

 l'l : it has the frontal black band (>4 inch wide, the white collar bordered by bright rufous, but the head scarcely 

 tinted with it. One from Constantinople (April 26th) measures — wing 4-0, tarsus 1 -0, and has the rufous very bright 

 above the eye-stripe and hind-neck collar. A female, measuring in the wing 4-3 inches, has a complete narrow 

 bar across the hind neck tinged with rufous above. Some variation exists in the colouring of the legs. My St.- 

 Vincent example has the tarsus light plumbeous, with the joints and toes blackish, like Ceylon birds. Dr. Scully 

 cites the legs in a Yarkand example as being greyish black ; and Dr. Armstrong speaks of those of Irrawaddy 

 specimens as being plumbeous grey. His dimensions of a series are : — length 6"5 to 7 - inches ; wing 4 - 2 to 4-5 ; 

 tail 4-8 to 2-2 ; tarsus 1-4 to 1-25 ; bill from gape 075 to 0-95. 



Swinhoe's species, JE. dealbata, from China, which Mr. Harting identifies with JH. peronii of Temm., is closely allied 

 to the present, but has the upper surface more " sandy ; " and two or three specimens before me want the stripe 

 through the lores ; the legs are fleshy yellow. The wing measures 4 - 4 to 4-7 inches. 



2E. nivosa, from America, the representative of JE. cantiana, has no stripe through the lores, which are constantly white. 

 It comes close to j3£. peronii, but has a smaller bill. 



2E. rufieapilla, the Australian ally of the present, differs in having no white ring round the neck, and wants the black patch 

 on the sides of the chest ; a rufous stripe extends across the forehead and over the eye to the nape. Wing 4-4. 



Distribution. — This well-known little Plover frequents the dry districts of Ceylon. It is very common 

 from the Wellaway river eastward all along the sea-board to Batticaloa, and thence northward is found in 

 suitable localities, which between that town and Trincomalie are not so numerous as further south. Beyond 

 Trincomalie again it is to be found on the borders of, and open land surrounding, the backwaters and salt 

 lakes. In the Jaffna peninsula and on the sands of the Lake it is common ; and down the west coast to 

 Manaar I found it equally plentiful. Mr. Holdswortb procured it at Aripu ; and south of this it is to be 

 found down the coast to Chilaw. Between that place and Colombo it is less numerous, and only found, 

 according to my observation, in the cool season. In the month of February I have seen it on the islands at 

 the mouth of the Negombo Lake. South of Colombo I never noticed it ; but it may occur as a straggler in 

 the north-east monsoon. In the breeding-season it is to be met with inland at large tanks, such as Minery and 

 Kanthelai, where I have found it tolerably abundant and nesting on the shores of these sheets of water : I 

 have not met with it at the smaller tanks ; but I have no doubt it occurs at Anaradhapura and elsewhere at the 

 borders of restored lakes. 



It is probable that though stationary for the most part in the island there is an influx of migratory birds 

 from the mainland in October, and a diminution again in their numbers in the spring, when some may depart 

 for the north of India. 



Leaving the confines of Ceylon, we find Mr. Hume meeting with it atCardamum in the Laccadives; and, 

 as regards the mainland, Jerdon observes that it is more generally diffused in India than the last two species, 

 being found far inland on the banks of rivers and large tanks, as well as at the mouths of rivers on the sea- 

 coast, which latter localities it prefers. I do not find it recorded from the Deccan or from Chota Nagpur, 

 although Mr. Hume has received it from the Raipur district. At the mouth of the Chandballi river Mr. Ball 

 met with it ; but he does not record it from the interior of Orissa. About Calcutta it is not uncommon in 

 the cool season ; but to the uorth-east of this locality Mr. Cripps did not meet with it. In the Irrawaddy 



