four inches and three-eighths; the first quill-feather but
very little longer than the second, and the longest in the
wing.
Adult females have the white and black frontal hands
narrower than the males, and these markings are also less
perfectly defined.
Young birds of the year want all the decided black
markings which distinguish old birds, and the ash-brown
feathers. of the back. and wing-coverts . have buff-coloured
margins.
A mounted specimen of the. American Killdeer Plover,
JEgialitis vocifera, was shewn to Mr. P. L. .Sclater in 1862,;
by Mr. 3. B. Wise, who stated that it was shot .about a
mile from Christchurch, in Hampshire, in April;-186$, and
taken in the flesh to Mr. Hart, the f bird-sfcuffer, w£to^ sold
it to its then owner, Mr. Tanner. 'I n recording the/above
(Ibis, 1862, pp. 275-277), Mr. Sclater' remarked; that some
corroborative evidence of the bird having been brought to
Mr. Hart ** in the. flesh ” would still- be desirable ; but he
saw nothing very improbable in the alleged facts, as other
American species of less extended ranga and more limited
powers of flight have already occurred in this country i The •
Killdeer Plover ranges from Arctic America Ho Mexico -and
Guatemala, and visits the Bermudas regularly from November
to March, but there is no other instance on record of
its occurrence in Europe.
jE gialitis cantiana .(Latham*).
THE KENTISH PLOYEB.
OKdrcbdflus CUfitiarpus*;
Th e-Kentish Plover was first described and named by
Latham, from 'specimens sent to” him by Dr. Boys, which
were killed at Sandwich," in Kent, in the years 1787 and
1791. I t ' is a’ep^eiBs" with a broken or interrupted pectoral
band, - therein differing from5- the preceding species, and
arrives' on the shores of England in April- and departs in
August, but in 'SSfland It is as yet unknown. Bridlington^'
off'the Yorkshire cdaltfis at present the most northern
locality from which it has be'eld recorded >- and it is of rare
occurrence in Lincolnshire.f In Norfolk, Mr. Stefenson
informs the Editor that if is a ‘more frequent visitant on
* Chwradrivs'Cant.ianus, Latham, Suppl. ii, to Gem Bynop.p. IxtL
t Cordeaux, ‘ Birds of Humber Disfrietjj ,p. -