476 



iris dark brown; legs plumbeous grey. Total length about 8 inches, culmen 1*0, wing 5 - 7, tail 24, 

 tarsus 1*5. 



Adult Female in summer (Syria) . Differs from the male in lacking the black stripes over the fore crown and 

 through the eye, these parts being brownish grey ; the breast is paler rufous, and the upper parts are 

 rather darker and duller. 



Adult Male in winter (Egypt) . Crown, nape, and upper parts generally brownish cinereous ; wings and 

 tail as in the summer; sides of the head, including a space below the eye, pale brownish cinereous; 

 forehead, lores, chin, throat, and underparts white, the breast tinged with pale rusty buff. 



The present species, again, is one that straggles into the Western Paleearctic Region from Asia, 

 which is its true home. It is only found in the extreme eastern portion of the region embraced 

 in the present work, as it has been met with in Syria and Palestine, but does not appear to have 

 ever straggled into Central Europe. I possess examples from Syria ; and an examination of the 

 specimens collected by Canon Tristram in Palestine shows that all he obtained there, even those 

 recorded by him as JEgialitis mongolica and JEgialitis asiatica, are referable to the present species. 

 The small race of the present species (2Egialitis mongolica, Pall.), which differs only in size and 

 in having a smaller bill, and which is only just specifically separable, is said by Temminck to 

 have once occurred near St. Petersburg ; but it appears to me not improbable that the specimen, 

 if one was really obtained there, may prove to belong to 2E. geoffroyi. 



In North-east Africa the Larger Sand-Plover is found but sparingly. Von Heuglin says that 

 he met with it now and again in winter on the north coasts of Egypt ; but, he adds, it is quite 

 common on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, — where it is doubtless a resident ; for he met with 

 it there from June to November. He says that it frequents sandbanks, coral reefs, and low 

 shores, singly and in flocks, sometimes in company with other Waders, young birds being most 

 frequently seen, and old males in full plumage being comparatively rare. As a rule it is a shy 

 and a less sprightly bird than its allies ; and, like them, it feeds on worms, spawn, small insects, 

 &c. &c. ; and its note is a clear flute-like whistle. It is found in places where the water is shallow 

 and near the surf, and will wade into the water in search of food. When pursued they will run a 

 short distance and then start off on the wing, flying low and close together, but swiftly, usually 

 settling again at some distance. When wounded it swims with ease. He adds that he is not 

 sure if it breeds on the shores of the Red Sea. Captain Shelley writes (B. of Egypt, p. 238) as 

 follows : — " Although I only know of two specimens of this bird having been brought back from 

 Egypt, one in Mr. E. C. Taylor's collection and one in my own, I do not look upon it as of rare 

 occurrence in that country ; but it is doubtless absent from most Egyptian collections on account 

 of its habit of frequenting the sandy shores of the lakes near the sea, which are rarely visited by 

 Nile tourists. I saw a flock of twenty of these birds on Lake Mareotis when I obtained my 

 specimen, in the beginning of February ; and towards the end of March, near Damietta, I again 

 saw considerable numbers of a Plover, which was probably this bird; but, owing to its shyness, I 

 was unable to procure a shot." I do not find it recorded from West Africa, except from 

 Benguela ; but it has been obtained as far south as the Cape colony ; for Mr. Layard writes (B. of 

 S. Afr. p. 299) as follows: — " I shot a single specimen (?) of this Plover on the Salt River, near 



