462 



8 



extending from the median line over the black of the breast and abdomen, which distinguished 

 them from the males." 



Professor Newton, when exhibiting a specimen of the egg at a Meeting of the Zoological 

 Society, makes the following remarks : — " The egg of this cosmopolitan species has been con- 

 fessedly one of the rarest and most sought for by collectors. It is now well known that Sir John 

 Richardson must have been mistaken in his assertion (' F. B.-A.' ii. p. 370) that the Grey Plover 

 breeds in Pennsylvania." He also adds : — " The specimen which I now have the pleasure of 

 exhibiting was sent me a few months ago by my friend Dr. Baldamus, who received it from 

 Councillor von Middendorff. This intrepid traveller states (' Sib. Eeise,' II. ii. p. 290) that the 

 bird breeds on the Byrranga Mountains, in latitude 74° N., as well as on the Boganida, in latitude 

 71° N., and that it is much less common there than Charadrius pluvialis. He found a nest on 

 June 26th with four eggs, which he describes with some minuteness, besides figuring an example 

 (t. 19. f. 1). They greatly resemble in character those of the Lapwing (Vanellus cristatus) and 

 Dotterel (Eudromias morinellus), but are much larger. My specimen is, I believe, a good deal 

 under the average size ; and yet it is more bulky than any Golden Plover's that I have, thereby con- 

 firming Von MiddendorfFs remark. With it Dr. Baldamus sent me a memorandum, bearing the 



autograph of the discoverer, as follows: — ' Saxiatarola helvetica, ^-, 43, fluv. Taimyr, 74°. — 

 Middff.' " 



In Dresser's collection is one egg of this bird obtained by Dr. Middendorff on the Boganida 

 on the 30th of June, and by him deposited, with several others, in the Petersburg Museum, 

 whence Dresser procured it. In shape this egg is rather more elongated and tapers sharper at 

 the smaller end than eggs of Charadrius pluvialis ; and the markings are more irregular and 

 fantastical, there being no distinct almost round spots, so common in the Golden Plover's. The 

 ground-colour is dull clay-brown, like that in many Golden-Plovers' eggs; and the markings, 

 which are distributed over the surface of the egg, but collect together somewhat at the larger 

 end, are dark blackish brown, and irregular and distorted in shape. Here and there a few 

 purplish underlying shell-markings show themselves. It measures 2^j by l-j§ inch. 



Mr. Swinhoe once kept a Grey Plover in confinement ; and this bird never assumed the black 

 dress while in captivity, but retained its winter plumage all the summer through. 



The descriptions and figures of the adult bird in breeding-plumage, and the young in autumn, 

 are taken from specimens in our collection, shot in Pagham Harbour, while the winter dress is 

 described from a fine specimen killed at Blakeney by Mr. Buxton and now in the possession of 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney, Jun. This bird is figured in the last-named stage of plumage, on the plate of 

 the Eastern Golden Plover. 



In conclusion, we must acknowledge the great assistance we have derived from the article on 

 the Grey Plover in the Vogel Ost-Afrika's of Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub, where the synonymy is 

 most thoroughly and completely worked out. 



