740 
Birds of Celebes: Charadriidae. 
Measurements (20 specimens from Celebes and Talaut). Wing 155 — 175 mm; tail ca. 60; 
tarsus ca. 44; bill from forehead ca. 25. See, also, W.Blasius 25; Einsch & Hartl. 2. 
Egg. Light buff to very pale buff with a slight olive tinge, blotched and sjootted with rich 
browTi; grey underlyhig markings sinall and comparatively few; size 47 — 48.8 X 32.3 
— 33.3 mm (from Seebohm XXP'^). 
Nest. One found by Seebohm in the valley of the Yenesei was ‘‘merely a hollow in the 
ground, upon a piece of turfy land, overgrown with moss and lichen, and was lined 
with broken stalks of reindeer moss (XXP‘^). 
Distribution. Asia; Alaska; Polynesia; throughout the East Indies; Austraha; New Zealand; 
N. E. Africa; Europe as a straggler (cf. Sharpe and Dresser IIP, Salvador! 
5, 18, 36\ Legge 75; Baird, Brewer & Eidgw. el] E. P. Ramsay 27; Buller 
26] Wiglesw. 55; Taczanowski 42). 
In the Celebesian area: — Minahassa (Meyer 72, etc.); Gorontalo Distr. (Eorsten 
d 1, etc.); Gulf of Boni — Luwu (Weber 47); Togian (Meyer 12)] Talaut Is. 
(Nat. Coll. 43, 49)] Saleyer (Everett 51). 
This species, the eastern representative of the Golden Plover, C.pluvialis, 
of Europe, is distinguishable from that bird by its grey axillaries (not white), 
and smaller size. The American form, C. dominicus, is less easily if at all to be 
separated, but, as Prof. W. Bias ins (23) and others point out, while the bill 
and tarsus of C.fulvus are as long or longer, its wing and tail are notably 
shorter than in the American bird; the latter is also said to have one or two 
more bars on the tail. Dr. Sharpe, however, has found that they seem to 
overlajj to such an extent that their distinction does not appear advisable. 
C.fuhus is undoubtedly a great migrant, the main body of the species 
probably breeding in Siberia, where its eggs have been found by v. Middendorff 
(111, 42), and there are carefully identified specimens taken by Seebohm (XXP‘^)] 
Nelson also recorded it as breeding on both coasts of the Bering Sea (42). It 
breeds, nevertheless, in New Caledonia, as shown by Mr. Layard (10, 11, 13, 
16), and Sir Walter Buller (26) records the discovery of a nest and eggs on 
Portland Island, New Zealand. In North Celebes Meyer got this Plover at 
Limbotto in July and on Togian Island in August; some birds, therefore, remain 
throughout the year, but, as already remarked, we have seen none in breeding 
plumage. Finsch says that it is found throughout the year on the Gilbert 
and Marshall atolls, and our artist, Mr. B. Geisler, tells us that this is the 
case in New Britain. Swinhoe described it as common all the year round in 
Formosa (hi), but the supposed eggs obtained by him are discredited by 
Seebohm (Ibis 1879, 154), Legge (B. Ceylon 1880, 942), and Harting (P. Z. S. 
1882, 355), who hold them for those oi Aegialitis geoffroyi. Sufficient, however, 
is known to show that many individuals of a great migratory species remain 
behind in their winter quarters, and some of them even breed there. Such facts 
seem to throAV some light upon the nature of the migratory instinct in birds, 
as also upon a process — one of many — of colonisation by birds, affecting 
the questions of geographical distribution. 
