Family CHARADRIID^. Genus Vanellus. 



Subfamily Charadrun/e. 



LAPWING. 



VANELLUS CRISTATUS— Wolf and Meyer. 



Geographical Distribution.— ^«V«/^ .• Widely and gene- 

 rally distributed throughout the British Islands, in all suitable 

 districts, including the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands. 

 Commonest in Scotland and Ireland, and more widely spread in 

 winter than in summer, during the former season visiting the 

 Channel Islands. Foreign : Palasarctic region, encroaching on the 

 Nearctic region in the extreme west and east ; parts of the Oriental 

 region in winter. Accidental in Greenland and Jan Mayen ; 

 summer visitor to Iceland and the Faroes. Breeds in localities 

 suited to its requirements throughout Europe, south of the Arctic 

 Circle, and in small numbers in North Africa as far south as 

 Egypt. Resident in Europe south of the Baltic, but the birds 

 that breed further north are migratory and winter in Asia Minor, 

 the basin of the Mediterranean (including Africa north of the 

 Great Desert), the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores, and has 

 been known to stray as far as Barbadoes (fde Col. Feilden). In 

 Asia it does not appear to range further north than lat. 55° 

 (although, according to Bogdanow, it reaches ten degrees further 

 north, a circumstance which seems probable, as it is an occasional 

 wanderer to Alaska), but is a common summer migrant to South 

 Siberia, Turkestan, Mongolia (including the Thian-Shan range up 

 to 11,000 feet), and the north island of Japan. The Asiatic birds 

 winter in Persia, North India (south to 25° N. lat.), China, and 

 the south island of Japan. 



Allied Forms. — None of sufficient propinquity to require 

 notice. 



