L1MIC0LM. CHARADRIIDJf.
, -iEöIALITIS .CURONIOA (Gmelin*).
| THE L IT T J jE RINGED ^ ^ É rV,
Of this raremsitant to Britain, the late'Mr. Gould"wrote
in the £ Birdsèof Europe,'- “ ‘We-are indebted- fc/ our^ilfeM
Mr. Henry Doubleday,-of Epping, for -the •l-©M^f&ah>ëxa^pe
of this elegant little Plover, which be informs-us was taken
at Shoreham/ ih ‘ShsSelT;.’^ and it would 'appeai^dhalr^liis
' specimen was correctly- ideniahéh“ As regards- the;Wate
Mr. Lubbock’s statement5in his Fauna -ör^*N'ö'r‘folk,rthsit
“ two specimens-of this-bird in the Norwich Museum were
believed by Mr.-'Denny, thé curatorflo have-'^eeth Mffied in
the county; but the fact-was ffdt 'not-ed' down at the^ÉÖb;^
Mr. Stevenson» writes that only one-4 of --these is now in
existence, and the- evidence is :-tofoc-Vague --to justify its
claim to be considered a 'Norfolk bird.
* Charadrius curotyicus, Gfmelin, .Ry&t. Nat. iJ3pt;-68'4- (*178'8V. .So-called
becanse it inhabits Ouronia (OouHaifil^ "5-
The late Mr. E. H. Rodd obtained a specimen shot-on-
the 23rd October, 1863, aLTrescoe, in the iS.cilly Islands, by
his nephew, Mr. igj^ R. Rodd, who wrote as follows It
rose, and its note was a single sharp whistle, not like that
of the, -Common Ringed Plover, and shorter .in duration.
Its flight was remarkably Stint-like, which it also resembled
in its'tameness.” On the 3Qth August, 1864, Mr. fj B j
Harting. .shot, an immature male example at Kingsbury
Reservoir, in Middlesex, and a took it in the -flesh ^ Mr.
Gould/4ogether with an adult female of the »Common Ringed
Plover shot at -the same time and place. Accurate measurements
and weights oft each iwere taken, and their .sternums
were subsequently- compared,- „-the results -being ‘given in
detail by Having in the ‘Birds o f d ^ J ^ l e ^ ’ (p. 152).
He was afterwards informed' by Mr. R. H." Milford, of
Hampstead', that'he also shot an -immature Little- Ringed
Plfcfer on- the 20th August- of the same year, at. the same-
piece of .water, t^f-thai owing tokn unfortunatpqmistake,, it
was »not . preserved. Mr. W. Borrer, of Cowfold, .Sussex,
has., also an undoubted Axample ishot near the mouth of
Chichester Harbour in May, .some years ago.*
.‘^Besides these genuine examples,xa number of ‘ Little
Ringed Plovers’ have t-been from time to time recorded in
thei pages of ifheiJZocdogist -and -.elsewhere, without any
i evi|encp’Hbeing adduced to sho)v that they were not specimens
of the small race .of the Common Ringed Plover, and
such in fact some, of* them are now candidly admitted to be
by their owners. The real' Littles Ringed Plover, may,
hpw;ever, be distinguished from / 'M&ticutlk, ■ by its. smaller
size* and- slenderer form,1 being .one-fourthlighter in weight-»
but Especially, by the colour of the: primaries
which are .all dusky, .except the-oufer.-xme, which alone
is, while' throughautifialn ib& larger species-there are flecks
of white »crossing the whole, of the primaries, and forming'
* Mr f f w inr.tb§53xd Editionj|f b is'‘;Ornitbolpgi^l..Rambles ip,Sussex,,
pT states,' -without, further details, that ?^hree'adult, and two
i&idktiir6 exainples : of Kinged P^pyer,. %e^e tHied near SKoreliam,
in ? Septeniber^ ^