108 



CHARADEITJS. 



Literature. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



Plates. — Homb. & Jacq. Voy. au Pole Sud &c. pi. 30. 



Habits. — Described by Mr. Young as closely resembling those of the Ringed Plover. 



Eggs. — Unknown. 



The Magellanic Plover may be at once distinguished from those of its congeners 

 which, like it, are furnished with a hind toe, by its short tarsus, which is not so long as the 

 middle toe and claw. 



It was originally discovered nearly fifty years ago in the Straits of Magellan ; but the 

 type in the Paris Museum, and a second example obtained at the same time and now in 

 the British Museum, remained unique until last year, when Mr. John Young shot one bird 

 out of a flock of five or six which frequented a rocky point in Tova Harbour on the coast of 

 Patagonia, in lat. 45° south. 



The irides and the legs and feet of this bird are described by Mr. Young as pink, 

 exactly the ordinary tint of red tape, a colour with which he must be very familiar at the 

 War Office. The secondaries are grey, gradually becoming whiter as they approach the 

 tertials, which suddenly become very grey. 



CHARADRIUS RUFIVENTRIS. 



AUSTRALIAN FOUR-TOED DOTTEREL. (Plate III.) 

 Diagnosis. Charadrius halluce parvo : primariis interioribus et secimdariis omnibus late albo terminatis. 



Variations. It is not known that this species is subject to any local variation. 



