THE RED-BREASTED DOTTERELS. 15 1 
the primaries ivith white shafts, but otherwise without white on 
any of the quills ; axillaries white ; bill black ; feet greenish- 
olive, the toes dusky ; iris dusky hazel. Total length, 7 inches ; 
culmen, o’p; wing, 5'65 ; tail, 2'i5 ; tarsus, i 35- 
Winter Plumage.— Differs from the summer plumage in want- 
ing the rufous chest-band, which is replaced by brown, the rest 
of the under surface being white. The general colour is rather 
dark brown, including the head ; the sides of the face, foiehead, 
and eyebrow are tinged with sandy-buff, of which there is a shade 
also round the hind-neck; throat isabelline-white, separated 
from the white breast by a broad band of ashy-brown, extend- 
ing from the lower throat to the fore-neck and chest, and to the 
sides of the upper breast. 
Young Birds.— Resemble the winter plumage of the adults, 
but are distinguished by having sandy-buff edges to the feathers 
of the upper surface, and the sides of the face and the chest 
band are also decidedly tinged with sandy-buff. 
Churucters. — Young birds might perhaps be passed over for 
the young of the Ringed Sand-Plover, but they can always be 
distinguished by their longer tarsi. 
Range in Great Britain. — On the 23rd of May, 1890, a pair of 
strange Plovers were seen in a market garden on the North 
Denes, at Yarmouth, and the male was shot and forwarded to 
Mr. Southwell, at Norwich, by whom it was sent for exhibition 
at the meeting of the Zoological Society on the 17th of June in 
the same year. The bird was in full plumage, and has since 
been placed in the Norwich Museum. 
Range outside the British Islands.— The breeding hom.e of this 
species is in the Kirghis Steppes and Central Asia, whence it 
w’anders in winter down the east coast of Africa to the Cape 
and Damara Land. It is at the same time of year a visitor to 
Western India, but is apparently a very rare bird there. It 
visits the Caspian and Palestine on its migrations, and has also 
been captured in the Indian Ocean far out at sea. Besides the 
British example, the species has also been taken in Heligoland, 
as well as in Italy. 
Hahits. — In their winter home in South Africa, these Dotterels 
are described by Mr. Arnott and Mr. Ayres as frequenting the 
