202 



BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. 



space, cheeks, fore part of neck, breast, and axillar feathers, black; the rest 

 of the lower parts white, the lower primary coverts grey towards the end. 



Length to end of tail llf inches, to end of wings 12^, to end of claws 14; 

 extent of wings 25; wing from flexure Si; tail 3i; bill along the ridge li, 

 along the edge of lower mandible 1^; bare part of tibia f; tarsus 2; hind toe 

 ^f; middle toe 1-jj, its claw i; outer toe and claw 1^; inner toe 1. Weight 

 6i- oz. 



The female resembles the male, but has the black of the lower parts of a 

 less deep tint. 



Young about a week old. 



Bill and feet dull greenish-brown. Iris brown. The general colour is 

 pale brownish-yellow, mottled with dusky; a whitish ring round the eye; 

 tail with a black band, rump whitish, primary quills dusky, the outer edges 

 of the secondaries whitish. 

 The young in autumn. 



Bill greyish-black; feet bluish-grey. The upper parts brownish-black, 

 spotted with white, some of the spots yellow; the wings and tail as in the 

 adult, but the latter tinged with grey, and having eight dark bars on all the 

 feathers. The fore part and sides of the neck, and the sides of the body, 



greyish-white, mottled with brown- 

 ish-grey; axillary feathers brownish- 

 black; the rest of the lower parts 

 white. 



Adult in winter. 



The adult in winter has the upper 

 parts light greyish-brown, the mar- 

 gins of the feathers much lighter; the 

 sides and fore parts of the neck pale 

 grey, with dark grey streaks and spots; 

 lower parts white. In other respects 

 the colours are as in summer. 



In an adult male of this species 

 there is a double row of papillas on 

 the roof of the mouth. The tongue 

 is 1 inch long, slender, tapering, emar- 

 ginate and papillate at the base, groov- 

 ed above, horny on the back. The 

 oesophagus, a, is 5 inches long, at its 

 upper part 4 twelfths in diameter, en- 

 larged to |- inch on the lower part of 

 the neck. The proventriculus, b, ob- 



