Charadrius peroni Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. (1856), 43, 417.
Ægialitis peroni Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 273;
Hand-List (1899), 1, 154; Grant and Whitehead, Ibis (1898),
247, pl. 6, fig. 8 (egg); Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 25;
McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 23.
Bantayan (McGregor); Basilan (McGregor); Bohol (Everett); Calayan
(McGregor); Cebu (McGregor); Fuga (McGregor); Leyte (Everett);
Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Whitehead, McGregor); Mindanao (Steere
Exp., Everett); Mindoro (Porter); Negros (Steere Exp.); Palawan
(Lempriere, Whitehead, Platen); Romblon (McGregor); Sibutu
(Everett); Sibuyan (McGregor); Siquijor (Steere Exp., Bourns &
Worcester); Ticao (McGregor). Greater Sunda Islands to Celebes.
"Adult male.--Above light ashy brown, darker on rump and central
upper tail-coverts; sides of rump and lateral upper tail-coverts pure
white; wing-coverts like the back, with a band of dark sepia-brown
along marginal coverts; greater coverts broadly tipped with white;
alula and primary-coverts dark brown, with white tips, the shafts
conspicuously white; inner primaries white toward base of outer web;
secondaries dark brown, white at ends of outer web, increasing in
extent toward the innermost; long inner secondaries like the back;
four center tail-feathers dark brown, next pair smoky brown, next
pair white with a little smoky brown at the ends, remainder pure
white; crown rufous, with a nuchal collar of pure white, this collar
followed by a broad black band on hind neck overspreading mantle;
forehead white, reaching to above eye and separated from rufous of
crown by a tolerably broad band of black; a distinct loral streak of
black; sides of face and ear-coverts with a black band along upper
margin of the latter; cheeks and under surface pure white, with a
large black patch on each side of fore neck; under wing-coverts and
axillars white; quills below ashy gray. 'Bill black, orange at base;
feet gray, claws black; iris warm chocolate-brown; orbital ring pure
orange.' (Everett.) Length, about 150; culmen, 16; wing, 95; tail,
39; tarsus, 27; middle toe with claw, 20.
"Adult female.--Similar to the male, but without the black band across
forehead; black on mantle and hind neck represented by dark brown mixed
with rufous; black patch at the side of fore neck replaced by dark
brown mixed with rufous, with a tinge of the latter color spreading
across fore neck. 'Bill black, base yellowish; feet purplish gray;
iris dark brown.' (Everett.) Length, 140; culmen, 16; wing, 102;
tail, 38; tarsus, 27.
"In some specimens, apparently very old males, the black band is
continued right across the fore neck.
"Young birds resemble the adults, but have no facial black markings
or any black or rufous on the mantle or sides of the chest, the whole
of the upper surface being uniform ashy brown, with broad sandy-buff
margins." (Sharpe.)
This little plover differs from Ægialitis dubia and Æ. alexandrina
in having a comparatively stout bill.
Whitehead took three eggs of the Malay sand-plover at Cape Engaño,
Luzon, on May 26, 1895. They are described as follows: "Shape
short ovate. Ground-color pale cream; the whole shell with small
blotches, streaks, and zigzag pencillings of rich sepia and pale
lavender. Measurements 30 mm. by 22 mm. The three eggs were deposited
on the bare sand among sea-drift and only a few yards above high-water
mark. The female was shot. On the same day young plovers nearly ready
to fly were captured." (Grant and Whitehead.)