CHARADRIID^ — THE PLOVERS — PODASOCYS. 171 



in some examples, and to a brownish in others. They are thinly marked all over 

 with brown, so dark as to be almost black, these markings being in irregular, sharply 

 defined spots, small splashes, and fine dots. In some specimens the markings run 

 into fine lines, and in these are the smallest, darkest, most numerous, and most 

 sharply defined. The markings are usually larger and more thickly set on the larger 

 part of the egg. Here and there a few pale obsolete spots are noticed. 



Audubon, who probably observed this species in a more northern locality, gives 

 the 1st of Jane as the date of the first deposition of its egg; and this more nearly 

 corresponds with my own experience. Visiting Cape Charles, June 4, 1852, I met 

 with several nests of this bird, in all of which the eggs were quite fresh. 



Audubon describes the flight as rapid, elegant, and protracted. When flying from 

 one sand-beach or island to another, they pass low over the land or water, and as they 

 move give utterance to a clear and soft note. After the breeding-season they form 

 into flocks of twenty or thirty. They do not run (piite so rapidly as the Piping 

 Plover, nor are they so shy. They rarely mingle with any other species, and show 

 a decided preference for solitary and unfrequented places. Their food is almost ex- 

 clusively of a marine character, and consists of minute shell-fish, worms, and small 

 insects. With this food they mingle fine particles of sand. In the fall they become 

 very plump, and afford delicious eating. They are said to feed by night as well as by 

 day, and their peculiarly large eyes seem to adapt them for nocturnal habits. 



Mr. Moore, avIio observed the habits of this l^ird on Sarasota Bay, Florida, states 

 that out of fourteen nests all but four had three eggs in a set, and these had two. 

 The time of incubation is twenty-four or twenty-five days. The eggs were very rarely 

 found placed with the small ends together. Occasionally an interval of one, two, or 

 three days would pass after the deposition of an egg before another was laid. Eggs 

 were first laid April 8th. Ko nests were found nearer to one another than twenty 

 yards. One was so near the Avater and so low as to be flooded at an unusually high 

 tide. 



Three eggs of this species in my collection, taken at Cape Charles in 1854 (jSTo. 

 521), are of an oblong oval shape, rounded at one end and tapering at the other. The 

 ground is a deep drab, and the markings are of bistre intensified to blackness, irreg- 

 ular in shape, some rounded, others longitudinal, larger than in ^. meloda, and with 

 more tendency to coalesce about the larger end. In one, the markings are nearly 

 confined to the obtuse end. The measurements are 1.45 by 1.04 inches ; 1.48 by 

 1.05 ; and 1.40 by 1.05 inches. The eggs are much more oval in shape than are those 

 of ^. meloda. 



Genus PODASOCYS, Coues. 

 Podasocys, Coues, Pr. Philad. Acad. 1866, 96 (type Chamclrius montanus, Towns.) 



Char. Bill rather small and slender (much as in Oxyechus), but longer than the middle toe ; 

 tarsus considerably more than twice as long as the middle toe. Tail short, even, scarcely reaching 

 to the ends of the folded wings. Plumage exceedingly plain. 



The genus Podasocys is perhaps more nearly related to the Old World Eudromias than to any 

 American genus, but may readily be distinguished by the several characters given in the above 

 diagnosis, and in the table on p. 129. At least one Old World species, Cliaradrius verediis, Gould, 

 seems to be strictly congeneric. We have carefully compared specimens, and can find no difference 

 whatever in the details of structure. The C. asiaticus, Pallas, is said to be a near relation of C. 

 veredus, and may also belong to this genus. These two Old World species are characterized by a 

 rufous pectoral band in the summer plumage, while the American species (P. mo7itanus) has the 



