Charadrius fulvus Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, 167; Oates,
Bds. Brit. Burmah (1883), 2, 364; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List
(1906), 22.
Charadrius dominicus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24,
195 (part); Hand-List (1899), 1, 152 (part); Oates, Cat. Birds'
Eggs (1902), 2, 18 (part).
Ca-sa-huit', Calayan; ma-tang-vá-ca, Manila.
Balabac (Steere, Steere Exp.); Bantayan (McGregor); Basilan
(McGregor); Batan (McGregor); Bohol (Everett); Calamianes (Bourns
& Worcester); Calayan (McGregor); Cebu (Everett, McGregor); Cuyo
(McGregor); Fuga (McGregor); Leyte (Everett); Lubang (McGregor);
Luzon (Cuming, Meyer, Everett, Heriot, Whitehead, McGregor);
Masbate (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Mindanao (Murray, Everett,
Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Mindoro (McGregor);
Negros (Layard, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Keay); Palawan
(Platen, Whitehead, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, White); Sibay
(McGregor & Worcester); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor
(Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Sulu (Mearns);
Ticao (McGregor). Northern Asia and Alaskan coasts of Bering Sea,
south in winter to Australia and Polynesia.
"Male and female in summer.--Forehead white, continued back over each
eye as a broad supercilium and extending down the sides of neck;
whole upper plumage black, each feather with large marginal yellow
spots on both webs, the spots on the wing-coverts tending to white;
primary-coverts and the greater series brown, tipped and margined with
white; primaries brown, the central portion of the shaft whitish;
secondaries brown tipped with whitish; tail blackish, irregularly
barred with white; chin, throat, fore neck, breast, and abdomen black;
vent and flanks black mottled with white; under tail-coverts white;
axillars smoky brown with white tips.
"Male and female in winter.--Upper plumage black, the feathers margined
with yellow; wing-coverts margined with dull white; quills and tail
much as in summer; forehead and sides of head fulvous, the latter part
streaked with brown; chin and upper throat fulvous-white; lower throat,
fore neck, and feathers under cheeks and ear-coverts rather bright
fulvous with minute streaks of brown; breast grayish, the feathers
broadly margined with fulvous; remainder of lower plumage pale buffy
white; sides of body more or less marked and fringed with fulvous;
axillars smoky brown, tipped with white as in summer. Bill dark brown;
iris dark hazel-brown; legs plumbeous; claws horn-color. Length, 254;
tail, 63; wing, 160; tarsus, 46; bill from gape, 28. The sexes are
of about the same size.
"The golden plover frequents waste ground, grassy plains, and wet
paddy-fields, and also the edges of rivers, and is generally met with
in flocks of considerable size. It breeds in China, and also it is
said in some parts of India, laying four eggs in a hollow lined with
a few blades of grass. The eggs are yellowish blotched with blackish
sepia." (Oates.)
The Eastern golden plover is found in the Philippines on migration
and is then usually in its gray winter dress but specimens have been
taken with numbers of black feathers from the summer plumage.
Genus OCHTHODROMUS Reichenbach, 1852.
This genus should be united to Ægialitis from which its members differ
only in being a little larger.
Species.
a1. Axillars and under wing-coverts white; wing about 140 mm.
b1. Larger; culmen more than 23 mm. ... geoffroyi (p. 106)
b2. Smaller; culmen less than 20 mm. ... mongolus (p. 107)
a2. Axillars and under wing-coverts smoky brown; wing about 165
mm. ... veredus (p. 108)