126 



CHAEADKITTS. 



Synonymy. 



Literature. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



Charadrius hiaticula, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 150 (1758) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 253 (1766). 



Pluvialis torquata minor, Brisson, Orn. v. p. 63 (1760). 



^Egialitis hiaticula (Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 558. 



Hiaticula annulata, Gray, List Gen. B. p. 65 (1840). 



Hiaticula hiaticula (Linn.), Lichtenstein, Nomencl. Av. p. 94 (1854). 



yEgialites auritus, Heuglin, Syst. TJebers. Vog. N.O.-Afr. p. 56 (1856). 



Plates.- — Daub. PI. Enl. no. 920; Dresser, Birds of Europe, vii. pi. 525. 

 Habits. — Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 20. 

 Eggs. — Seebohm, British Birds, pi. 26. fig. 6. 



The Ringed Plover has the whole of the underparts pure white, with the exception of 

 the lores and a single broad breast-band, both of which are black in adult male, brown in 

 female and young. Nearly the central half of the outer webs of the innermost primaries is 

 white ; and the web between the outer and middle toes only reaches to the first joint. 



It breeds in Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, 

 and Nova Zembla. It is a regular summer visitor 

 to the whole of Europe north of the Alps, and to 

 Asia at least as far east as the Taimyr peninsula. 

 In South Siberia it is not known to have occurred 

 east of Lake Baikal, but it breeds regularly in 

 Western Siberia and sparingly in Turkestan. It 

 probably passes through Persia on migration, and 

 winters in the basin of the Mediterranean and in 

 Africa, where it has been found in almost every 



part of the continent. There seems to be little doubt that it breeds in Cumberland Bay, 

 on the American side of Davis Strait ; and it has been recorded as an accidental strao-o-ler 

 in India and Australia, but on very unsatisfactory evidence. Heuglin suggests that some 

 remain on the shores of the Red Sea to breed, but the evidence is not at all conclusive. 



Its nearest ally is unquestionably C. semipalmatus. 



CHARADRIUS HIATICULA MAJOR. 



BRITISH RINGED R LOVER. 



Diagnosis. Charadrius hiaticula magnitudine majore. 



Synonymy. 



Variations. The British Ringed Plover completely intergrades with its continental ally. 



Pluvialis torquata, Brisson, Orn. v. p. 60 (1760). 



Charadrius torquata (Briss.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. fyc. Brit. Mus. p. 28 (1816, nee Linn.). 



