524 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



wings. Female. — As male but black collar on nape not so well 

 denned and plentifully intermixed with drab-brown ; lores and ear- 

 coverts dusky-brown ; pectoral band ash-brown with broad buff 

 edges decreasing in width towards centre where it is all but incom- 

 plete. 



First summer. Male. — The body-feathers (not back, rump or 

 all scapulars), tail-feathers, innermost secondaries and coverts, 

 occasionally some median and lesser coverts are moulted in spring 

 but not rest of wings. Coloration as adult summer and can only be 

 distinguished with certainty when sandy-buff edges of juvenile 

 feathers of back and rump and wing-coverts are not abraded. 

 Female. — Lores and ear-coverts browner and pectoral band narrower 

 and not so black as in adult female, some ash-brown juvenile 

 feathers remaining. 



Measurements and structure. — $ wing 111-119 mm., tail 50-60, 

 tarsus 22-25, bill from feathers 12-14 (12 measured). § wing 112— 

 120, bill 12-14. Primaries : 1st minute, 2nd longest, 3rd 2-4 mm. 

 shorter, 4th 6-10 shorter, 5th 14-20 shorter, 6th 23-28 shorter. 

 Longest innermost secondary between 3rd and 5th primaries. 

 Other structure as in C. h. hiaticula but bill more slender. 



Soft parts. — Bill black, utmost base of lower mandible yellowish- 

 flesh ; legs and feet pale flesh ; iris deep brown. 



Characters and allied forms. — G. d. dubius (Philippine Isles, 

 Hainan, Formosa) has longer and stouter bill ; C. d. jerdoni (India, 

 Borneo, New Guinea) is usually smaller, black frontal line narrower 

 and sometimes absent. Distinguished in all plumages from C. h. 

 hiaticula and C. a. alexandrinus by brown primary-shafts (except 

 2nd which is white) and by absence of white on webs of primaries ; 

 inner secondaries ash-brown tipped white, not white as in C. h. 

 hiaticula. 



Field -characters. — Much like Ringed Plover but smaller and 

 slighter ; size is however deceptive. On ground flesh-coloured, 

 not orange, legs should be looked for, on wing no white on inner 

 primaries, which in Ringed Plover makes a distinctive line across 

 primaries, and less white on secondaries. Love-song and flight and 

 other habits such as crouching and trailing wings, lying over on 

 side with wing up and leg outstretched, etc., when young in danger 

 much as in Ringed Plover, but is considerably more noisy and 

 demonstrative. Alarm note a very plaintive " whee-ar " constantly 

 repeated. (H.F.W.) 



Breeding-habits. — Although breeding on low coasts, also fre- 

 quently found by freshwater lakes, on sandbanks in rivers, etc., 

 inland. Nest. — A scratched out hollow in sand, on dry mud or among 

 shingle. Eggs. — Normally 4, sometimes 3 only, pyriform, pale stone- 

 buff, generally freely marked with small brown and ash-grey spots 

 and streaks, but also sometimes with bolder black spots, closely 

 approaching typical Kentish Plovers' eggs, but on average smaller. 

 Average of 100 eggs, 29.8x22.08. Max. : 32.8x23 and 30.1 X 23.5. 



