THE KENTISH PLOVER. 
369 
forehead from the rufous of the crown, the ear-coverts, a streak from the 
gape to the eye, and a patch on either side the breast black ; the whole 
lower plumage, axillaries, under wing-coverts and a narrow collar round 
the hind neck, immediately next the rufous of the head, pure white ; back, 
rump, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, tertiaries and upper wing-coverts ashy 
brown, the greater coverts tipped with white ; the four central tail-feathers 
dark brown ; the three outer pairs white, the remaining pair whity brown ; 
quills brown, the shaft of the first primary pure white, those of the others 
mesially white for an inch or more in extent ; secondaries broadly tipped 
with white. 
The female in summer differs from the male in having the black bands on 
the head narrower, and the rufous on the crown extremely pale. 
Both sexes in winter have the rufous feathers of the crown and nape 
broadly edged with brown and ihe black marks on the head are mixed 
with white. 
Young birds have the forehead whitish, the crown and nape ashy brown 
like the back ; the collar round the neck is present, but the white is less 
pure j there are no black bands on the head nor patches on the sides of the 
breast, these being indicated by a brown tinge only. 
Bill and legs black, iris dark brown. 
Length 6'5 inches, tail 2, wing 4*5, tarsus 1*1, bill from gape '8. The 
female is of the same size or rather smaller. 
This and the two preceding species may be separated from all the other 
small Plovers likely to occur in Burmah by the colour of the shafts of the 
primaries. In all three, the shaft of the first is entirely white, the others 
white only on the central portion for a length of an inch or an inch and a 
half. j^. placida was at one time thought to occur in Burmah, and it may 
yet be found in this country ; it can be recognized by its having the shafts 
of all the primaries hair-brown, except a minute portion near the tips, 
which is albescent. 
I have never met with the Kentish Plover in Burmah, but Dr. Armstrong 
found it very abundant along the coast about the Delta of the Irrawaddy. 
Mr. Davison procured it at various points in Tenasserim, and Capt. Ward- 
law Eamsay at Tonghoo. Mr. Blyth gives it from Arrakan. 
It occurs in the central and southern portions of Europe, the whole of 
Africa, and nearly the whole of Asia down to Ceylon on the one hand 
and Singapore on the other, extending east as far as Cochin China, where 
Dr. Tiraud met with it. 
Major Legge found it breeding in Ceylon in June and July on the banks 
of salt lagoons. It is unlikely to be other than a winter visitor to Burmah. 
VOL. II. 
