WINTER PLOVER 187 



down from the sky, the sight almost took my breath 

 away with astonishment. 



The Golden Plover appears to be most abundant 

 on the pampas between the thirty-fourth and thirty- 

 sixth parallels of latitude, but how far south its range 

 extends has not yet been ascertained. The return 

 migration begins early in March, and yet Mr. Barrows 

 met with it in the neighbourhood of Bahia Blanca 

 and on the Sierra de la Ventana from 8th February 

 to 19th March. During most of this time, he says, it 

 was abtmdant in flocks of from twenty to two hun- 

 dred birds, which appeared to be moving uniformly 

 south or south-wesU 



WINTER PLOVER 



Eudromias modesta 



Above brownish cinereous; frontal band and superciliary stripe 

 white; wings and central tail-feathers blackish; lateral tail-feathers 

 white, the inner ones with an imperfect black subterminal band; 

 beneath, throat cinereous, breast bright chestnut with a black band 

 below; belly white; bill black, base of lower mandible yellowish; 

 feet brown; length 7.5, wing 5.3 inches. Female similar. Young 

 without the rufous chest. 



This species in its gait, flight, and general appearance 

 closely resembles the American Golden Plover, but 

 is smaller than that bird, and its sober upper plumage 

 is unrelieved with flecks of golden colour. It breeds 

 in South Patagonia and the Falklands, and migrates 

 north in autumn, appearing on the pampas in April, 

 and being met with there throughout the winter ; 



