CHARADRIID^ — THE PLOVERS — ^GIALITIS. 



161 



Sp. Char. About the size of ^'. semijpalmata ; bill short, strong. Adult male: Forehead 

 ring around the back of the neck, and entire under parts, white ; a band of black in front above 

 the band of white ; band encircling the neck before and Ijehind, but usually interrupted in the 

 middle of the breast, black, immediately below the ring of while ou the neck behinel. Head above 



jE. meloda. 



and upper parts of body light l.)ro\vni^h cinereous ; rump and upper tail-coverts lighter, and often 

 nearly white ; quills dark brown, with a large portion of their inner webs and shafts white ; shorter 

 primaries with a large portion of their outer webs white ; tail at base white, and with the outer 

 feathers \\hite ; middle feathers with a wide sub-terminal band of brownish black, and tipped with 

 white. Bill orange at base, tipped with black ; legs orange yellow. Female : Similar to the male, 

 but with the dark colors lighter and less in extent. Young: No black band in front ; collar 

 around the back of the neck ashy brown. 



Total length, about 7 inches ; wing, 4.50 ; tail, 2 inches. 



Aside from the geographical variations noted on p. 152, the individual discrepancies in the 

 plumage of this species are quite considerable, involving chiefly the extent and intensity of the 



^. meloda circumcincta. 



black areas. It is quite the rule among specimens from the Atlantic States for the pectoral band 

 to be either decidedly narrower centrally, or altogether interrupted in the middle of the breast ; 

 while in examples from the interior States, especially from the Missouri River region, the pectoral 

 band is, in a large majority of specimens, absolutely continuous, and nearly or quite as wide as lu 

 ^. semipalmata. 



The common Piping Plover of the Middle and New England States exhibits but 

 very few peculiarities of habits and manners differing from the rest of this group. 

 It is, if anything, a little more shy and distrustful of man, and is less readily 



VOL. I. — 21 



