^GIALITIS MINOR. 
Little Ring’ed Plover. 
Charadrius minor, Meyer, Taschenb. Deutschl. Vog., tom. ii. p. 324. 
^ Jluviatilis, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iv. p. 422. 
curonicus, Beseke, Vog. Kurl., p. 66. 
hiaticiila, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat, tom. ii. p 144 ? 
intermedins, Menet. Catal., p. 53 ? 
Mgialitis Jluviatilis, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 549. 
Mgialites curonicus. Keys, et Bias. Wirbelth. Eur., p. 71. 
minor, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 558. 
It apj>ears to me to be quite impossible to determiue with any degree of certainty vvbat is tbe correct synonymy 
of this little Plover, and, consequently, wbicb of the various specific appellations that have been assigned 
to it should be retained. Temminck, Vieillot, De Selys-Longchamps, Boie, Bailly, Yarrell, and other authors 
adopt that of minor, applied to it by Meyer, while Keyserliiig and Blasius, Blyth, and G. R. Gray regard the 
bird as identical with the curonicus of Beseke, and therefore employ that name on the score of priority. By 
Bechsteln and Brehm it is termed Jlumatilis\ and it may possibly be the intermedius of Menetries. The sub- 
ject being thus involved in confusion, I have considered it best to employ the term ininor, by which the bird 
is most generally known. 
In the British Islands the Little Ringed Plover is but seldom seen, and must be regarded as a merely 
accidental visitor during its periodical migrations, nearly every instance of its occurrence having taken place 
in spring and autumn. On the continent of Europe it is numerous, and there, as well as in India and China, 
it is a regular migrant. From the vast powers of flight possessed by all the Plovers, we must not be sur- 
prised at learning that it is also found in Africa, being plentiful on the Nile and in the provinces of Algeria 
and Constantine. At this moment I have not only English specimens before me, but others from Germany, 
some from Egypt (kindly forwarded to me by Edgar Larking, Esq.), from India (sent by the late Lieut. R. C. 
Beavan), and also from China. It will be seen, therefore, that our Little Ringed Plover enjoys a most 
extensive range. Many of the habits of this species resemble those of the common JE. hiaticula ; hut it differs 
in appearance when on the wing. Although frequently found on the shingly beaches of the coast, it is on 
the whole less maritime than its congener ; for it rather affects the sides of inland waters, ponds, and reser 
voirs, and frequently ascends high up those rivers which rise far in the interior of the country, whether 
it be in Europe or India, in which latter country it is frequently seen on the sides of the numerous great 
tanks. 
With the exception of Britain, the Little Ring-Dotterel breeds in all the countries above mentioned, depo- 
siting its four freckled eggs either on the bare shingle or among the scanty herbage growing in the situations 
it affects. 
Mr. Hartlng tells me that, when on the wing, this species may be readily distinguished from the common 
one by the absence of white from the basal portions of the secondaries — a circumstance which renders it 
less conspicuous and more like the ordinary Sandpiper, Tringa hypoleuca. Little difference is observable 
in the size or colouring of the sexes ; but I observe that one of the specimens forwarded to me by Mr. Lar- 
king, a female, has the bands on the crown and the crescentic mark on the chest but faintly indicated, and 
of a brown hue, instead of black. 
The following notes were taken from a specimen sent to me in tbe flesh by Mr. Harting, by whom it had 
been killed at Kingsbury Reservoir, near Hendon, in Middlesex, on tbe 30th of August 1864. Several of the 
common species were on the side of the reservoir at the same time ; and Mr. Harting observed that its note was 
not a double whistle like the note of that bird, but was similar to that of the Common Sandpiper. The thick 
and fleshy ring round the eye was of a bright straw-yellow ; the bill black, with a tinge of fleshy yellow at 
the base of tbe under mandible ; the eyes black, full, and round ; the outer tail-feathers, instead of being 
wholly white (as is generally the case in tbe ordinary species), had a dusky spot on their inner webs ; the pri- 
maries are of a uniform blackish brown, with the exception of the shaft of the outer one, which is white ; 
while in the larger species the shafts of all the primaries are white. 
The weight of this specimen, a young male bird of the year in capital condition, was 14 oz. and 65 grains, 
while that of a female of the Common Ring-Dotterel shot the same day was 2^ oz. 
I have stated in general terms that this bird enjoys a most extensive range ; but it may be as well, per- 
