CHARADRTID.E — THE PLOVERS — .EGIALITIS. 165 



wholly white. Two oiiter tail-feathers wholly white, the rest growing gradually darker to the 

 inner pair, which are wholly dusky. Adult female : Similar to the male, but the hlack markings 

 less distinct (sometimes neai-ly obsolete). Bill and eyelids deep black ; iris deep brown ; legs 

 dull slate-color ; toes black ; interior of mouth fleshy white. Young : More ashy above, the black 

 markings replaced by ashy ; feathers of the upper parts indistinctly bordered with whitish. 



-'•=^^ 



Winter phimage. 



Downy young : Above, pale grayish buff, interrupted by a white nuchal collar, the whole of the 

 colored portion irregularly mottled with black. Forehead, lower parts, and hand-wing, white. A 

 distinct postocular streak of dusky. 



Total length, 6.25 to 7 inches ; extent of wings, 13 to 14.75 ; wing 4.20-4.30 ; culmen, .60 ; 

 tarsus, .90-1.05 ; middle toe, .55-60. 



Specimens vary chiefly in the depth of the ochraceous tinge to the hood and in the distinctness 

 of the black markings. In some the former feature is so pronounced as to offer a strong contrast 

 of color to the back, while in others, shot from the same flock, there is scarcely a trace of the buff 

 tinge. Some females have the black as distinct as in the males ; in others it is almost obsolete. 



There can be no question as to the propriety of separating this bird from utE. alexanclrina (vel 

 cantiana) of Europe, although the relationship is very close. The latter, however, is uniformly 

 larger, with longer tarsi and wings, and has invariably a distinct line of black running from the 

 rictus to the eye across the lores —  which mark is rarely even indicated in the American bird, 

 though in a very small percentage it occurs ; never so distinct and continuous, however, as in the 

 Old World form. 



This species was first describecl by Mr. Cassin from a single example obtained by 

 Lieutenant Trowbridge on the coast near San Francisco. The extent of its distribu- 

 tion and its specific peculiarities may still be but imperfectly known; it appears, 

 however, to be nearly restricted to the region between the shores of the Pacific and 

 the Eocky Mountains, occurring in South America as far as Chili, and on both shores 

 of Middle America. So far as its habits have become known, they appear to conform 

 to those of all the other members of this family in regard to its food, its manner of 

 flight, its movements on the land, its mode of nesting on the bare sand, and in all its 

 peculiarities of breeding. That it may migrate in the winter to the Pacific coast of 

 Central America is made to appear probable by the fact that Mr. Salvin procured at 

 Chiapam, Guatemala, in September, 1862, a single specimen of a Plover referable to 

 this species ; and Messrs. Sclater and Salvin mention its occurrence at Islay, Peru. 



Mr. H. W. Henshaw (Lieutenant Wheeler's "Eeport," 1876, p. 268) found this spe- 

 cies abundant on the coast of California. At Santa Barbara it occurred in large num- 

 bers, frequenting there only the sandy shores, not following the creeks inland, and 

 never visiting the marshes, though these were within a few yards of its breeding- 

 ground. Its habits seemed to be exactly those of the common Piping Plover, and 

 its notes very similar to those of that bird. Its food consists of all sorts of worms 

 and marine Crustacea, which it finds close to the water's edge, following the retreat- 



