allen’s naturalist’s library. 
158 
other bird within hearing that it is time to be off from that par- 
ticular locality, frequently the Kill-deer remains all winter in 
some of the Middle States if the weather is not too severe, but 
when migrating it travels chiefly at night, often at a great height, 
announcing its presence by its clear, plaintive note sounded 
amidst the stars.” 
Nest. — A depression in the ground, sometimes lined with grass. 
Eggs. — Four in number; cream-coloured, spotted thickly 
with blackish-brown; sometimes the ground-colour is of a 
brownish-drab, and the spots rather small. Axis, i'5 inch; 
diam., i‘i5. 
THE SAND-PLOVERS. GENUS ATGIALITIS. 
^gialitis, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 558. 
Type, yE. hiaticola (Linn.). 
The species of this genus are of small size, cosmopolitan in 
their range, and most of them decorated with a black frontal 
band. The characters of the genus jEgialitis are the same 
as those of Oxyechus, excepting that the tail is shorter and 
more square and is not equal to half of the wing in 
length. Eighteen species are known, some of them breeding 
in the high north of both hemispheres, while many are quite 
tropical in their habitat. As a rule, however, the Sand-Plovers 
are migratory birds, and leave their breeding-grounds in 
autumn. 
I. THE RINGED SAND-PLOVER. .^GIALITIS HIATICOLA. 
Charadriiis kiaiicula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 253 (1766); Mac- 
gill. Brit. B. K’. p. 116 (1850). 
/Egialitis Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 467, pi. 525 (1876) ; 
B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 159 (1883) ; Saunders, ed. Yarn 
Brit. B. hi. p. 257 (1883) ; id. Man. Brit. B. p. 523 (1889) ; 
Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xx. (1891.) 
Charadrius hiaticula major, Seebohm, Hist. Br. B. iii. p. 20 
(1885). 
jEgialitis hiaticola, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 256. 
(Plate LXXVni.) 
Adult Male. — General colour above light brown ; wing-coverts 
like the back, the greater series tipped with white ; quills brown, 
