477 



Cape-town, in 1858, since which time no other specimen has occurred to me. On comparing it 

 with Indian specimens received from my friend Mr, Blyth, Curator of the Asiatic Society's 

 Museum in Calcutta, not the slightest differences can he observed. My bird was accidentally 

 killed from a flock of Sandpipers (Charadridce et Tringce) feeding in the marsh." It has been 

 obtained in Mozambique and at Zanzibar ; and Mr. E. Newton, who obtained it in Madagascar, 

 writes (Ibis, 1863, p. 455) as follows: — "On the 9th September, one specimen from a flock of 

 about a dozen was killed by Mr. Maule on the sands between the village of Hivondrona and the 

 mouth of the river of the same name." 



In Asia it is found right across the continent to Japan. Mr. "C. W. Wyatt found it in large 

 flocks near Tor, in the peninsula of Sinai. It is not recorded from Turkestan by Dr. Severtzoff; 

 but it is common in India. Mr. Hume (Stray Feathers, i. p. 229) says that he " met with it in 

 thousands in the Kurrachee harbour, feeding along with its congeners, Godwits, Oystercatchers, 

 Turnstones, and the like, on every mud-flat. It was equally common, I was told, about the 

 mouths of the Indus, from which locality I saw a specimen, and in all suitable localities along 

 the coast. With one exception, all the very numerous specimens I obtained were in winter 

 plumage ; but one male, shot on the 2nd February, has the broad rufous pectoral patch, rufous 

 forehead, rufous collar round the back of the neck, and rufous tinge on many of the scapulars, 

 indicative of the breeding-plumage." According to Dr. Jerdon (B. of India, ii. p. 639), it is 

 " chiefly found near the sea-coast, and at the mouths of large rivers, in considerable flocks. It is 

 found over all India in suitable spots, retiring north in April and May to breed ; and it is often 

 brought to the Calcutta market for sale, but not in such numbers as the next species. I have 

 procured it on the east coast of Madras, and elsewhere, but never far inland. Blyth remarks 

 that it is not till May that birds in summer plumage are procurable at Calcutta ; and I never got 

 them in the south of India in that garb. It probably occurs throughout Eastern Asia." It is 

 found in Southern India, and also in Ceylon and the Andaman Islands. Captain Legge says (Ibis, 

 1875, p. 400), in his notes on the avifauna of Ceylon, " I found it at Hambantotta during the 

 south-west monsoon in June and July. They were numerous on the great sand hills near that 

 town, and consorted with small flocks of Glareola lactea. It is rare on the north-east coast, as in 

 a tour up towards Jaffna, from Trincomalie, I met with but one example, my first (published in 

 ' Stray Feathers,' vol. i. p. 489). Those met with at Hambantotta, out of season, and which were 

 in winter dress, were probably all young birds, which, like the following species, remain to some 

 extent behind for the first year on the south-east and east coasts." Mr. A. O. Hume, in his 

 notes on the Birds of the Bay of Bengal, writes (Stray Feathers, ii. p. 288) as follows: — "We 

 obtained this species in the neighbourhood of Port Blair, at Macpherson's Straits, Camorta, and 

 Montschall, and saw it at several other places ; but it was nowhere numerous. A specimen killed 

 on the 8th March had begun to assume the rufous breeding-plumage ; but others killed on the 

 25th April showed as yet no signs of this. It is almost needless to say that the specimens we 

 obtained in the islands were entirely identical with birds procured in Sindh and other parts of 

 India. Davison says : — ' This Plover occurs, though somewhat sparingly, both at the Andamans 

 and Nicobars. I am unable to say when they leave for their breeding-haunts ; but they were with 

 JEgialitis mongolica, Tringa minuta, Strepsilas interpres, and a host of others to be seen about 

 Port Blair a few days before I left the islands in the middle of May.' We obtained specimens 



