iE G I A L IT I S C ANTI AN A. 
(THE KENTISH PLOVER.) 
Charadrius cantianus , Lath. Inch Orn. Suppl. p. 66 (1801) ; Gould, B. of Eur. iv. pi. 298 
(1837); Jerdon, Madr. Journ. 1840, xii. p. 203; Layard, B. of S. Afr. p. 296 (1867); 
Yon Heuglin, Ora. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1055 (1873). 
YEgialites cantianus (Lath.), Bp. Comp. List, p. 45 (1858) ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 404 ; 
Holdsw. ibid. 1872, p. 471; Legge, ibid. 1875, p. 374; Butler, Str. Eeath. 1877, 
p. 290. 
Hiaticula cantiana (Lath.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 263 (1849); Layard, Ann. & 
Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 109. 
Mgialitis cantianus (Lath.), Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 640 (1864) ; Shelley, B. of Egypt, 
p. 240 (1872) ; Legge, Str. Eeath. 1875, p. 372 ; Armstrong, ibid. 1876, p. 340 ; Hume, 
t. c. p. 464. 
Mgialitis cantiana (Lath.), Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 401; Irby, B. of Gibraltar, p. 162 (1875), 
Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 49 (1876); Hume, Str. Death. 18f9, viii. p. 112 (List Ind. L.). 
Mgialophilus cantianus (Lath.), Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 230 ; id. Nests and Eggs, iii. 
p. 571 (1875) ; Scully, Str. Eeath. 1876, p. 185. 
Kentish Dotterel of some; See-Eegenpfeifer, German; Charran, Spanish. Chullok, Sat 
Yamghurchi, Turki (Scully) ; Shiro-chidori , J apanese ; Kotan, Ceylonese Tamils. 
Watuwa, Sinhalese. 
Adult male (Ceylon). Length 6-1 to 6-3 inches ; wing 4-1 to 4-2 ; tail 1-5 to 1-7 ; tarsus 1-0 to IT ; middle toe and 
claw 0-65 to 0-7 ; bill to gape 0-6 to 0-68. , 
Iris dark brown; bill black ; tibia and feet dusky plumbeous ; the tarsus paler or bluish, in some greenish. 
Breedin q-plumage (Kanthelai, August). Head, back, and wing-coverts ashy brown, darkening into blackish brown on 
the upper tail-coverts aud four central rectrices, and edged pale throughout ; forehead, a broad superciliary band, 
cheeks, throat, aud entire under surface white, passing in a narrow collar round the hind neck ; a broad frontal 
baud, lores, ear-coverts, and a patch on each side of the chest black, the ear-coverts paler than the rest ; a pale 
rufous border above the black frontal band and round the upper edge of the supereilium aud collar ; quills blackish 
brown, paler on the inner w>ebs, and with the shafts white, the first being purer than the rest, the outer webs of 
the innermost primaries with a white edge ; the secondaries tipped white, and with the base of the inner webs 
the same ; the three outer pairs of rectrices white, with a brownish wash on the inner web of the third. 
Adult female in summer (shot with young, Iiambantota, July). Wants the black frontal baud, black stripe beneath 
the eye, and patch at the sides of the neck ; lores, forehead, and supereilium white, as in the male, a brown stripe 
instead'of a black one through the lores ; feathers anterior to the eye, bordering the white fringe, blackish ; a 
narrow whitish band across the hind neck edged obscurely with buff ; the patch on the sides of the chest brown, 
like the back. This individual has the feathers of the head tipped with white, which appears to be caused by 
abrasion and bleaching from the effects of a burning sun on the arid salt-pans on which I shot it. 
Another example, shot from the nest at Trincomalie, is identical in all respects save the white tippings of the head- 
feathers, the crown being plain brown, like the back, the feathers only finely edged pale. Specimens shot at this 
time are all in the abraded plumage, which is moulted in August. 
In a series of females the length varies from 5'9 to 6-2 inches, and the wing from 3-7 to 4T. 
Male in winter. Differs from the male in summer in wanting the rufous colouring on the head, and in the black band 
on the head being almost obsolete ; the lores and the stripe behind the eye are brownish, and so are the patches 
at the sides of the chest ; the white collar is of the same width as in summer, and edged above with rufous. 
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