348 PLOVER. 



liindhead, and sides of the neck white ; neck behind, back, scapulars, 

 rump, and upper tail coverts chestnut brown ; throat, neck before, 

 breast, and upper part of the belly black, with a gloss of violet on 

 the former; lower belly and vent white ; wing coverts like the back, 

 but those farthest from the body, and the second quills, are brownish 

 chestnut, tipped with white; the greater black ; tail four inches long, 

 even at the end, white for two-thirds of the length, the rest black ; 

 legs deep brown. 



One, supposed to be the female, has the bill and crest the same : 

 it differs chiefly in having the whole of the neck white; the black 

 on the throat reaching only for an inch down ; breast and upper part 

 of the belly black ; outer tail feathers tipped with white : both sexes 

 have a spur on the bend of the wing. 



Inhabits Russia ; and frequent near Aleppo, about the River 

 Coic.*' The Spur-winged Plovers are very numerous, and exceed- 

 ingly noisy; have a hasty, and almost continual, movement of the 

 head and neck, drawing them up briskly, and then stretching them 

 quickly forward, almost as if they were making hasty and eager bows.f 



B — In this the bill and legs are black; the head, neck behind, 

 chin, throat, and sides of the head, taking in the eye, black; back 

 and wing coverts pale ash grey; all the under parts white, except 

 a pale tinge of slate-colour on the breast, across which is a bar of 

 black ; on the bend of the wing a sharp spine ; quills black, the 

 end of the tail feathers black, the rest white. 



* In the plate referred to in Dr. Russel, the bird seems to have a minute back toe, or 

 at least a spur, though the text mentions only three toes in all. The having a minute spur 

 is not uncommon in the Plover Genus ; and I find a specimen in the British Museum fur- 

 nished with a small one. f SonninPs Travels, ii. p. 57. 



