KILLDEER PLOVER.
JEGIALITIS VOCIFERA (Linn.).
Charadrius vociferus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 253 (1766).
iEgialitis vocifera, Yarr. ed. 4, iii. p. 266, Pref. p. ix.
The specimen of this bird from which the accompanying
Plate was taken was most obligingly lent to
me (with other rare British birds) by its owner, Mr.
Dorrien Smith, of Tresco, Scilly, for the purposes of
this work. The occurrence of this specimen, killed by
Mr. Jenkinson in the island of Tresco in January 1885,
is recorded with a few details at p. 118 of the
‘ Zoologist ’ for that year by Mr. Thomas Cornish. I
am positively assured by Mr. Edward Hart, of Christchurch,
Hants, that another bird of this species was
killed on the shore of Christchurch harbour in April
1857, and seen by him whilst in fresh condition. These
two are, as I believe, the only recorded instances of
the occurrence of this American bird in the United
Kingdom.
As I have never crossed the Atlantic I can say
nothing of the Killdeer from personal observation, so
I quote the following details from Chamberlain’s edition
of ‘Nuttall’s Manual’ (1891):—“ The well-known,