16 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



readily distinguisliecl from those of the Ringed Plover 

 by the deeper yellowish tinge of their ground-colour 

 and the irregular and scratchy character of their 

 markings. 



A third species of this family is recorded as having 

 been occasionally found in our country, and has been 

 described by many English authors under the name 

 of Little Ringed Plover, it is a smaller and more 

 slenderly built bird than either of the two species 

 above mentioned, in general appearance much resem- 

 bling the Ringed Plover. I have met with it in 

 small numbers on most parts of the Mediterranean 

 shores, as well as on the banks of rivers far inland, 

 and found its eggs on bare sandy spots in the 

 uncultivated wastes of New Castile, near Aranjuez. 

 As the Little Ringed Plover is an uncommon bird in 

 this country, and has been on several occasions 

 confounded with its commoner congener, I may be 

 excused from quoting from the 4th edition of Yarrell 

 vol. iii. p. 263, the principal outward differences 

 between the two species ; the Little Ringed Plover 

 is there stated to be one fourth lighter in weight 

 than the other, and a " constant distinction from 

 that bird is to be observed in the colour of the shafts 

 of the primaries, which are all dusky in the smaller 

 species with the exception of the outer one, which 

 alone is white throughout. In the larger species 

 there are flecks of white crossing the whole of the 

 primaries." 



