SLENDER-BILLED PLOVER 189 



in search of food like a Tringa, Its only language 

 is a low clicking note uttered when taking wing. 



Some individuals remain to breed as far north as 

 the pampas of Buenos Ayres. Mr. Gibson says the 

 nest is always placed near the water^ and is a slight 

 scrape in the ground lined with dry grass. The eggs 

 are three in number, have black spots on an olive 

 ground, and in shape resemble Lapwings* eggs. 



Dumford also found it breeding in the Chupat 

 Valley in September 1877. 



There is a second species of Ringed Plover (Azara's 

 Ringed Plover, iS. collaris) which ranges over the 

 whole of South America and was occasionally seen 

 by me on migration, on the pampas. 



SLENDER-BILLED PLOVER 



Oreophilm ruficoUis 



Above grey, varied with yellowish brown and striped with black on 

 the back and wing-coverts ; front and superciliarics yellowish brown ; 

 stripe through the eye blackish; wings blackish with white shafts, 

 their under surface white ; tail grey, with a black subterminal bar on 

 the lateral feathers ; beneath grey ; throat rusty reddish ; below the 

 breast a black band or patch ; bill dark, feet red ; length lo, wing 

 6.5 inches. 



This pretty and singular Plover, with a bill like a 

 Sandpiper, inhabits South Patagonia and the Falk- 

 lands. In the autumn it migrates north, and during 

 the cold season is found sparsely distributed through- 

 out the Argentine States, and passes into Bolivia and 

 Peru. On the pampas it is most abundant in April, 



