CHAKADBIID^ SQUATABOLA 369 



pure white ; below, the chin, lower breast and abdomen are white, 

 the sides of the face, neck and upper breast slaty-brown ; axillaries 

 and inner wing-coverts white, primary under wing-coverts slaty- 

 brown. 



Iris orange-yellow ; bill black; feet reddish-brown. 



Length 8'75 ; wing 6-5 ; tail 2-5 ; culmen -SS ; tarsus 2'3. 



Distribution. — This Plover was first described by Swainson from 

 the Gambia in West Africa, whence it is found as far south as the 

 Loango ; it reappears on the East Coast, where it extends from 

 Zanzibar to Natal and inland to Nyasaland. Seebohm first recog- 

 nised this bird as a South African one ; he examined specimens 

 shot by Mr. Harry Millar near Durban, and states that it is not 

 uncommon in that neighbourhood. 



Genus VII. SQUATAROLA. 



Type. 



Squatarola, Leach, Syst. Gat. Mamm. Bds. B. M. p. 



29 (1816) S. helvetica. 



Bill moderate, about as long as the middle toe and claw; tip 

 swollen, forming a dertrum ; nostril a linear slit in a depression 

 extending more than half way along the bill ; no facial wattles or 

 carpal spurs ; wings long and pointed, first primary clearly the 

 longest, inner secondaries long and pointed, difference between the 

 shortest outer secondaries and the longest primary more than half 

 the length of the wing; tail moderate and very slightly rounded; 

 a minute rudimentary hind toe present ; tarsus with reticulate 

 scaling throughout ; a basal web between the middle and outer 

 toes. 



This genus contains only the Grey Plover, a bird of wide 

 distribution in both hemispheres. 



723. Squatarola helvetica. Grey Plover. 



Tringa helvetica, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. 1, p. 250 (1766). 



Tringa varia, Lirm. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 252 (1766). 



Squatarola helvetica, Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 271 [Natal] ; Layard, B. S. 

 Afr. p. 295 (1867) ; Dresser, B. Eur. vii, p. 455, pis. 515, fig. 2, 517, 

 fig. 1 (1871) ; ShoA-pe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 658 (1884) ; id. Cat. 

 B. M. xxiv, p. 182 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 189 (1896). 



Squatarola varia, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 270 (1872). 



