948 
iEGIALITIS CANTIANA. 
Young. The nestling, when able to follow the parent bird, is fulvous above, with black lines and spottings on the 
crown and nape, and a velvety-black streak down the centre of the back ; on either side of this streak the back is 
marked with blackish ; down of the tail black ; beneath the body is white ; legs and feet sickly olive-green. 
The immature plumage of the first year is quickly acquired, and resembles that of the adult female ; the forehead is 
white, and the supercilium whitish ; the nuchal collar is very broad, but interrupted sometimes in the centre. 
Males and females are alike. 
Ohs. An examination of a large series of Kentish Plovers from various parts of the world will show that it is a very 
variable species as regards size ; and the Ceylon form, particularly as regards females, is, perhaps, the smallest of 
all, consisting as it does of tropical-bred birds, which must needs be, owing to climatic influence, a stunted race. 
It is likewise a variable bird as regards plumage, some examples being much more highly tinted with rufous on 
the head and across the neck than others ; and I think our race will be found to be almost less richly coloured 
than any other. A male in breeding-plumage, procured by myself in the island of St. Vincent (May), has the 
rufous bordering very bright and spreading entirely over the crown ; the black frontal baud, loral stripe, and chest- 
patches are intense black : wing 3*95 inches, bill at front 0-68, tarsus 1’1. A Sussex male has the wing 4-2, tarsus 
PI ; it has the frontal black band 0-4 inch wide, the white collar bordered by bright rufous, but the head scarcely 
tinted with it. One from Constantinople (April 26th) measures — wing 4-0, tarsus 1 *0, and has the rufous very bright 
above the eye-stripe and hind-neck collar. A female, measuring in the wing 4*3 inches, has a complete narrow 
bar across the hind neck tinged with rufous above. Some variation exists in the colouring of the legs. My St.- 
Vineent example has the tarsus light plumbeous, with the joints and toes blackish, like Ceylon birds. Dr. Scully 
cites the legs in a Yarkand example as being greyish blade ; and Dr. Armstrong speaks of those of Irrawaddy 
specimens as being plumbeous grey. His dimensions of a series are : — length 6-5 to 7’0 inches ; wing 4*2 to 4*5 ; 
tail P8 to 2-2 ; tarsus PI to 1*25 ; bill from gape 0*75 to 0*95. 
Swinhoe’s species, A?, dealbata, from China, which Mr. Harting identifies with AS. peronii of Temm., is closely allied 
to the present, but has the upper surface more “ sandy ; ” and two or three specimens before me want the stripe 
through the lores ; the legs are fleshy yellow. The wing measures 4*4 to 4*7 inches. 
AH. nivosa, from America, the representative of AS. cantiana, has no stripe through the lores, which are constantly white. 
It comes close to AH. peronii, but has a smaller bill. 
AS. rvficapilla , the Australian ally of the present, differs in having no white ring round the neck, and wants the black patch 
on the sides of the chest ; a rufous stripe extends across the forehead and over the eye to the nape. Wing 4*1. 
Distribution. — This well-known little Plover frequents the dry districts of Ceylon. It is very common 
from the Wellaway river eastward all along the sea-hoard to Batticaloa, and thence northward is found in 
suitable localities, which between that town and Trincomalie are not so numerous as further south. Beyond 
Trincomalie again it is to he found on the borders of, and open land surrounding, the backwaters and salt 
lakes. In the Jaffna peninsula and on the sands of the Lake it is common ; and down the west coast to 
Manaar I found it equally plentiful. Mr. Holdsworth procured it at Aripu ; and south of this it is to be 
found down the coast to Chilaw. Between that place and Colombo it is less numerous, and only found, 
according to my observation, in the cool season. In the month of February I have seen it on the islands at 
the mouth of the Negombo Lake. South of Colombo I never noticed it ; but it may occur as a straggler in 
the north-east monsoon. In the breeding-season it is to be met with inland at large tanks, such as Minery and 
Kanthelai, where I have found it tolerably abundant and nesting on the shores of these sheets of water : I 
have not met with it at the smaller tanks ; but I have no doubt it occurs at Anaradhapura and elsewhere at the 
borders of restored lakes. 
It is probable that though stationary for the most part in the island there is an influx of migratory birds 
from the mainland in October, and a diminution again in their numbers in the spring, when some may depart 
for the north of India. 
Leaving the confines of Ceylon, we find Mr. Hume meeting with it at Cardamum in the Laccadives ; and, 
as regards the mainland, Jerdon observes that it is more generally diffused in India than the last two species, 
being found far inland on the banks of rivers and large tanks, as well as at the mouths of rivers on the sea- 
coast, which latter localities it prefers. I do not find it recorded from the Deccan or from Cliota Nagpur, 
although Mr. Hume has received it from the Raipur district. At the mouth of the Chandballi river Mr. Ball 
met with it ; but he does not record it from the interior of Orissa. About Calcutta it is not uncommon in 
the cool season ; but to the north-east of this locality Mr. Cripps did not meet with it. In the Irrawaddy 
