754 
Birds of Celebes: Charadriidae. 
America, collaris of S. America, and ruficapilla of Australia, New Guinea and 
New Zealand. It would be a matter for no great surprise if thi-ee of these 
closely allied forms were to be found in Celebes besides Aegialitis peroni; namely 
A. cantiana and dealbata as winter visitors, and A. nificapilla as a straggler from 
Australia or New Guinea. A. cantiana, which is already known from Borneo 
and some of the Philippines, may be recognised by its black (or leaden) legs 
and larger size (wing 104 — 114 mm: Seebohm); A. dealbata has light yellowish 
brown or flesh-coloured legs like peroni, but is fully as large as cantiana and, 
as in that bird, the black collar (or rather the remains of it) is found only on 
the sides of the neck, not on the hind-neck; A. riijicapilla is of about the same 
size as A. peh'oni, but, as Seebohm remarks, it has neither the black nor the 
white nuchal collar; the tarsi are light grey, feet blackish brown. An example 
in the Dresden Museum (Nr. 11440) with the wing 114 mm, labelled “Philippines”, 
seems to be dealbata. 
Compared with A. curonka and its closest allies, the cantiana-^voM]) differs 
in having a relatively longer tarsus, shorter tail (shorter by about Vg) much 
longer and stouter bill; the three outer tail-feathers are pure white, the shafts 
of all the remiges are white (except at the tip), and the head of the adult is 
rufous behind the black bar of the fore crown. 
A recent writer on migration asserts that northern birds do not increase 
their breeding range towards the tropics. Swinhoe (d 1) remarks of A. dealbata 
of China, Hainan and Formosa, that no one can doubt the fact of its being 
derived from A. cantiana. In the same way it might be urged that peroni and 
the other forms of the south were sprung from that species, in other words, 
that A. cantiana has spread its breeding range southward, where it has under- 
gone local modifications. On the other hand it may be supposed that one of 
the tropical races gave rise to the northern cantiana. The former view seems 
the more plausible one, because, as has been shown, certain allied migratory 
species stay the summer in their winter quarters, and cases are knowm of their 
breeding there'). As to the modifications of A. peroni, Seebohm remarks that 
“its small size is probably connected with the fact that it lives upon islands and 
not upon a continent”, and believes that, being of a somewhat arctic genus, it 
has decreased in size in the uncongenial climate of the tropics. If pei'oni is 
really sprung from cantiana, it has of course decreased in size (suj)posing cantiana 
has not since grown larger), but more proof of a decrease in size of northern 
forms in the tropics is desirable, for as a rule a more luxuriant growth pertains 
to the tropics, and it does not appear that islands are likely to harbour smaller 
forms than continents (except, perhaps, among the Raptores); the small Sangi 
Islands at all events produce larger races than the large island of Celebes. 
*) Charadrius fulvus, Aegialitis geoffroyi, Aeg. mongola, Strepsilas interpres and Limosa novaezealandiae. 
