Family CHARADRIID^. Genus ^gialophilus. 



Subfamily Charadriinm. 



CASPIAN SAND PLOVER. 



^GIALOPHILUS ASIATICUS— (^«^^«^)- 



Geographical Distribution.— -5r/Aj/% .• At a meeting of 

 the Zoological Society on June 17th, i8go, the Secretary, Mr. 

 P. L. Sclater, exhibited on behalf of Mr. T. Southwell a mounted 

 specimen of the Caspian Sand Plover — the first and only example 

 known to have been killed in the British Islands. The bird, " a 

 handsome full-plumaged male," had been shot on the evening of 

 the 23rd of May in that year on the North Denes at Yarmouth. 

 Another bird, probably a female, was in its company, but 

 escaped. The example secured is now in the Norwich Museum. 

 (Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1890, p. 461.) Foreign : South 

 central Patearctic region ; Ethiopian region in winter. Range 

 remarkably restricted, in the breeding season apparently confined 

 to the basins of the Caspian and Aral Seas. It passes Arabia 

 and the Upper Nile valley on migration, and winters in Africa 

 south of the Equator, certainly from Angola in the west and the 

 Transvaal in the east down to Natal and the Cape Colony. 



Allied Forms. — None with which it is likely to be 

 confused. 



Time during which the Asiatic Sand Plover may be 



taken. — August ist to March ist. 



Habits. — But little is known of the habits of this Plover ; and 

 from the few fragments recorded in the Ih's and elsewhere, I do 

 not find anything of special interest. 



Nidification. — An egg of this species taken on the Kirghiz 

 steppes is described by Mr. Dresser (B. of Europe) as oval and 

 tapering, warm buff with a faint tinge of green in ground colour, 

 and the spots nearly black. It measures i'2 5 inch in length by 

 I '07 inch in breadth. 



Diagnostic Characters.— ^^/a/^/M^j, with no black 

 markings on the head and neck, with the lores white, and the 

 legs and feet pale brown. Length, 7 '5 inches. 



