OCR Text |
Show 1870.] MR. R. SWINHOE ON CHINESE PLOVERS. 137 over the ear-coverts, brown more or less mixed with black. A pure white half-eyebrow above the ear-coverts. On hind neck, below the white ring, a broad black ring extending across the breast; below this a narrow white pectoral bar, succeeded by a broad one of brown more or less mixed with black. Lower edge of wing white; greater wing-coverts broadly margined at their tips with the same. Winglet deep hair-brown. Quills lighter hair-brown, edged and tipped paler; inner secondaries broadly edged with white. Tail light brown; the two central feathers entirely so, but of a much darker hue near their tips; the rest with a broad white tip, succeeded by a blackish-brown broad bar, the black mounting higher on the outer side of the shaft, and the white increasing towards the outermost feather, of which the edge of the outer web, its entire basal portion, and its shaft are white. Bill blackish brown, the basal third of its lower mandible orange-yellow. Eyelid orange-yellow; eye full and dark. Legs pale ochreous, deeper on toes, with black claws. Length about 8 inches; wing 5*75 ; tail 3*2 ; bill in front *8; naked tibia '65 ; tarse 1*2; middle toe (claw *17) 1*2, outer toe (claw *15) •88, inner toe (claw *14) *7. A slight web occurs between the outer and middle toes, running in a deep curve from the first joint of the one to that of the other. The feet extend when stretched backwards to a little beyond the tail; the wings fall a quarter of an inch short of it. This species is much smaller than AUgialites vociferus, and about a third bigger than yEg. tricollaris, but has a longer bill than either. In the black and white markings of the head and neck and tail, and in the shape of the last, these three species have much in common, but they differ so much in other respects that there is no chance of confounding them one with another. Mr. Harting drew m y attention to a species of Plover from India with the double pectoral band, which he thought at first might be the same as m y Chinese species. He took the pains to search up all the references alluding to it, and has kindly permitted me to peruse them. The species is described by Latham (Ind. Ornith. ii. p. 750) as Charadrius indicus ; and there is a specimen of it in the Leyden Museum from Nepaul. It turns out to be smaller and quite distinct from ours. A description of the Nepaulese specimen is given in the ' Mus. des Pays-Bas,' Cursores, p. 25. 2. ^EGIALITES HIATICULA (Linn.). Pere David had a specimen of the European Ringed Plover iu full summer plumage in his museum at Peking. It had been procured in the neighbourhood of the Chinese capital. I have never met with it on the South-China coast. 3. ^EGIALITES CURONICUS (Gm.)*. AEgialites minor (Meyer). * This would appear to be the larger form of Little Sand-plover, or Mgialitcs intermedius (Menetries) = Charadrius hiaticula of Pallas. The smaller form, Met. minor (Meyer) =Ch. curonicus, Beseke =(?/*. minutus, Pallas, has not yet occurred in China, but is known from India, and has been met with in England. |