170 



CHAEADEIUS. 



Literature. Plates. — Unfigured. 



Habits. — Legge, Birds of Ceylon, p. 950. 



Eggs. — Described by Legge in the above-mentioned volume as slightly smaller than eggs of the 

 more northerly race. 



Subspecific 

 characters. 



The tropical form of the Common Sand-Plover, or Kentish Plover as it has 

 unfortunately been named, is only a dwarf race of its migratory ally. The length 

 of the wing from the carpal joint varies from 4 - 2 to 3*7 inch. The legs are also said to 

 be somewhat paler than those of the typical form. 



So far as is known, the small race of the Common Sand- Plover is a resident on the 

 southern shores of the Red Sea, where it was obtained by Blanford, who erroneously 

 identified it as C. niveifrons (Geol. and Zool. Abyss, p. 429), and on the island of Ceylon, 

 where Legge found it breeding on the margins of the salt-lagoons. 



CHAR'ADRIUS CANTIANUS DEALBATUS, 



CHINESE KENTISH PLOVER. 



Diagnosis. Charadrius cantianus loris fuscis, pedibus pallidis. 



Variations. The Chinese form of this species completely intergrades both with the American and 

 European forms. 



Synonymy. ^Egialites dealbatus, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, p. 138. 



Literature. 



Subspecific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



Plates. — None. 



Habits.— Swinhoe, Ibis, 1860, p. 429. 



Eggs, obtained by Swinhoe, are indistinguishable from those of the typical form. 



The Chinese form of the Kentish Plover only differs from its Western ally in being on 

 an average a slightly larger bird, with pale instead of dark legs. In the latter respect it 

 agrees with the American form of the same species, which differs from it only in having no 

 black on the lores. On the American shore of the Pacific it is said that all three forms 

 occur together with intermediate examples. 



It is a resident on the coasts of South China, Formosa, and Hainan. 



