, "■:^^ 



Family CHARADRIID^ Plovers. 



Gem s CHARADRIU8 Lixx.eus. 



Subgenus SQUATAROLA Cuvier. 



CHARADRIUS 8QUATAR0LA (Linn.). 



ll'J. Black-bellied Plover. (:270) 



Adult ill hriciliiii/ sidsoii : — Rarely seen iu the United States; face and entire 

 under pai-ts, black ; upper parts, vai'iegated with black and white, or ashy ; 

 tail, barred with Idack and white; (jiiills, ilusky with large white patches. 

 Adii/fs at otiii r tiiiii.f (I ml i/ihuki: — Below, white, more or less shaded with gray; 

 the throat and breast, inoi-e or less speckled with dusky; above, blackish, 

 speckled with white or yellowish ; the rump, white, with dai*k bars ; legs, dull 

 l)luish. Old birds changing show every grade, from a few isolated feathers on 

 tlie under parts to numerous large black patches. Length, 11-12; wing, 7 or 

 more; tail, 3; bill, 1-1^; tarsus, 2; middle toe and claw, 1^; hind toe, hardly :J. 



Hab. — Nearly cosmopolitan, but chiefly in the northern hemisphere, breed- 

 ing far north, and migrating south in winter, in America, to tlie West Indies, 

 Brazil and New (Grenada. 



Nest, a hollow in the ground, slightly lined with grass. 



Eggs, four, dark gray color, blotched or spotted witli brownish -black. 

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