JAN., 1909. BIRDS OF ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN CORY. 427 



Adult in summer: Back and upper parts, smoky black, feathers 



marked and edged with yellow and brown ; sides of the breast, whitish ; 



rest of under parts, throat, and sides of the head, including eye, black; 



forehead, whitish, a white stripe extending backwards over the eye 



-and down the sides of the neck; bill, black; axillars, gray. 



Breeding plumage. American Golden Plover. Fall and winter plumage. 



Adult in winter: Upper parts, brownish, feathers marked with 

 dull tawny yellow or buff; under parts are dull white, streaked with 

 ashy brown or gray on the breast and sides. 



Length, 10.25; wing, 7; tarsus, 1.55; bill, .92. 



This species may be distinguished from the Black-bellied Plover 

 in any plumage by its gray axillars and the absence of the rudimentary 

 hind toe. 



The Golden Plover was at one time abundant and is still more or 

 less common in Illinois and Wisconsin during the migrations. Arrives 

 from the south the latter part of April and from the north in 

 September. As is the case with others of its family, its numbers are 

 decreasing year by year. 



Genus OXYECHUS Reich. 



136. Oxyechus vociferus (LiNN.). 

 KILLDEER PLOVER. 



ALgialitis vocifera (Linn.), A. O. U. Check List, 1895, p. 100. 



Distr.: Temperate North America; south in winter to the West 

 Indies, Middle America, and South America; breeding throughout 

 its North American range as far north as Newfoundland and Mani- 

 toba. 



