LITTLE RINGED-PLOVER 
Aegialitis minor 
General colour of upper plumage a delicate grey-brown ; 
under plumage white, with a black bar through the eye, and 
a dark mark on the forehead, bordered at its lower and upper 
margin with white; and a rich black collar going nearly all 
round body; legs reddish. Total length, 6:5 inches. 
Tus bird no one can fail to see, as, though it is 
in other countries a shy bird, it is here amazingly 
tame and familiar. By the river, by canal-side, 
round every small pool or watercourse, there you 
will see this cheerful little compact-shaped bird. 
All last winter, 1907-8, I had seen great numbers 
in the Thebes district, but in this winter of 1909 I 
have on Lake Menzaleh seen literally thousands of 
Ring-Plover. I cannot be sure they were all “the 
Little Ring-Plover” ; that they were Ring-Plovers, 
I am certain, but as there are three species of 
Ring - Plover —the Great, the Middle, and the 
Little (and Captain Shelley strangely gives the 
dimensions of the Middle form as smaller than 
the Little)—it is safest not to be too dogmatic, 
and only call them Ring-Plovers. It is a very 
active bird, incessantly on the search for food, 
120 
