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THE CREAM-COLOURED PLOVER

(Charadrius Gallicus, Gmel. Linn.)

Is thus described in Montagu's Ornith. Dict. vol. II. "Length ten inches. Bill black, three quarters of an inch long, slender and bent at the tip; plumage in general cream colour, palest beneath; behind the eye a patch of black; through them a pale streak passing back to the hind head, and dividing the black; quills black; tail cream-colour, marked with black near the tip: legs yellowish.

"This is said to be a rare bold bird, and to run with great swiftness; but its habits seem to be much in obscurity."

Latham, in his Ind. Ornith. has arranged it under the name of Cursorius Europæus, in the new genus Cursorius, which is recognized by Temminck, though he objects to the specific appellation, because the bird is a native of Africa.

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(Charadrius Calidris, Linn.-Maubeche, Buff.)

THIS bird weighs almost two ounces; is about eight inches in length, and fifteen in breadth, from tip to tip. The bill is an inch long, slender, black and grooved on the sides nearly from the tip to the nostril; the brow to the eyes white; rest of the head pale ash grey, mottled in brown streaks from the forehead to the hinder part of the neck, and on each side of the upper part of the breast; back, scapulars, and greater coverts, brownish ash, edged with dull white, and irregularly marked with dark brown spots. The pinions, lesser coverts and bastard wings, dark brown; the quills, which extend beyond the tail, are of the same colour on their exterior webs and points, except four of the middle ones, which are white on the outer webs, forming, when

the wing is closed, a sharp wedge-shaped spot; inner webs brownish ash; secondary quills brown, tipped with white; the rump and tail coverts also brown, edged with dirty white; tail feathers brownish ash, edged with a lighter shade, the two middle ones much darker than the rest; throat, fore part of the neck, breast, belly, thighs and vent white; the toes and legs black, and bare a little above the knees. This bird is of a slender form, and its plumage has a hoary appearance among the Stints, with which it associates on the sea-shore, in various parts of Great Britain. It wants the hinder toe, and has, in other respects, the look of the Plover and Dotterel, to which family it belongs.

Latham says, this bird, like the Purre, and some others, varies considerably, either from age or the season; for those he received in August, had the upper parts dark ash coloured, and the feathers deeply edged with a ferruginous colour; but others sent him in January were of a plain dove-coloured grey; they differed also in some other trifling particulars.

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(Lanius rufus, Linn.-La Pie-grièche rousse, Buff.)

THE bill is dark, tinged with blue, notched at the tip, and beset with bristles at the base, where a small spot of dirty white partly extends from the nostrils to the eyes, which are hazel; the fore part of the head, over the eyes and auriculars, and a stripe falling down on the sides of the neck and joining the shoulder feathers, are black; the lesser coverts nearly the same: a patch of white is formed at the base of the primaries; the secondaries are tipt with dull white; the tail dusky; the coverts and rump the same, but mixed with white; the first three outside feathers are white at the base and tips, and the outside one, which is shorter than the rest, is white on the outer web. The throat, fore part of the neck, and the breast, are dingy white, the belly

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and vent the same, but partaking a little of dull yellow; the hinder part of the head and neck is bright reddish chesnut; the scapulars are white; the back dark ash: legs dark; claws curved and short.

At page 75 is given a figure of a Shrike, which, judging from that of Buffon, appears to be the female of the Woodchat; hence it may be concluded, that if the female is found in this country, so in all probability is the male also.

The foregoing figure of this very scarce bird, was taken from a fine specimen in the private collection of Mr Leadbeater.

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