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A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



The British. Golden Plover (Charadrivs apricarius oreophilos). 

 Male adult, summer. 



streak from bill to nape as crown ; patch under eye, chin and 

 throat white ; rest of under -parts greyish-white, down of upper- 

 breast dusky-black at base. 



Juvenile. — Upper -parts, wings and tail as adult but golden 

 tips and notches of upper -parts and wing-coverts paler ; ear- 

 coverts and cheeks paler ; throat, sides of neck and breast paler 

 golden than adult and feathers with triangular dusky-brown spots 

 and markings (feather-bases more or less greyish) ; flanks dusky- 

 white more or less 

 tinged golden and 

 barred, streaked and 

 marked (sometimes 

 tipped) dusky ; belly 

 and vent white or 

 dusky - white, some- 

 times barred or tipped 

 dusky. 



First winter. — Can- 

 not be distinguished 

 with certainty from 

 adult winter, but in 

 early winter may be 

 told from freshly 

 moulted adults by 

 their faded and worn 

 wing-coverts and by 

 one or more worn 

 scapulars and inner- 

 most secondaries but 

 when wings of adults 

 become worn this dis- 

 tinction does not hold. 

 The juvenile body- 

 plumage (? back and 

 rump), some scapu- 

 lars, some innermost 

 secondaries and apparently their coverts, some median and lesser 

 coverts are moulted Sept. to early Nov. but not rest of wing- 

 feathers and apparently not tail. First summer. — Indistinguishable 

 from adult summer. 



Measurements and structure. — $ wing 188-192 mm., tail 60-76, 

 tarsus 38-41, bill from feathers 22-25 (13 measured). $ wing 180- 

 191, bill 21-25. Primaries : 1st minute, 2nd longest, 3rd 3-8 mm. 

 shorter, 4th 14-20 shorter, 5th 22-32 shorter, 6th 34-45 shorter. 

 Longest inner secondaries between 5th and 6th primaries. Tail 

 short and square. Bill short, straight, slightly convex at tip ; 

 nasal groove extending along two-thirds of upper mandible. Three 

 toes, outer and middle ones webbed up to about 1st joint, middle 

 and inner slightly webbed at base. 



The Northern Golden Plover (C. a. apric%riu>). 

 Male adult, summer. 



