Mountain Plover 135 



at the Colorado Museum of Natural Historj'- at Denver, taken by Hersey 

 at Barr in the spring, where it is rare. 



Genus PODASOCYS. 



Resembling ^Egialitis, but without black bands or patches on the 

 breast ; tail short, less than half the wing, square ; tarsus long, about 

 half as long again as the middle toe and claw ; toes very short, the outer 

 one basally webbed. 



This genus contains only one species. 



Mountain Plover. Podasocys montana. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 281— Colorado Records— Allen 72, pp. 152, 159 ; 

 Aiken 72, p, 209 ; Coues 74, p. 456 ; Henshaw 75, p. 447 ; Tresz 81, 

 p. 244 ; AUen & Brewster 83, p. 197 ; Drew 85, p. 18 ; Beckham 85, 

 p. 143 ; DiUe 86, p. 29 ; 03, p. 74 ; W. G. Smith 88, p. 187 ; Morrison 

 89, p. 181 ; Cooke 97, pp. 18, 68, 201 ; Warren 06, p. 19 ; 10, p. 30 ; 

 Markman 07, p. 156 ; Henderson 09, p. 228 ; Hersey & Rockwell 09, 

 p. 116. 



Description. — Male — Above pale brown, feathers edged to a varying 

 extent with rusty or yellowish ; a black band across the front of the 

 crown of varying width and piu-ity ; wings dusky, white on the shafts 

 and on the bases of some of the inner quills ; tail dusky, paler on the 

 outer feathers, edged with white ; frontal band and lower-parts white, 

 a black stripe from the eye to the base of the bill and a rather faint grey 

 or tawny band across the chest, but no black ; iris brown, bill black, 

 legs pale brown. Length 8-0 ; wing 5-9 ; tail 24 ; culmen -9 ; tarsus 

 1 '6. The sexes are alike ; in winter there is no black crown or loreal 

 bands, and the rusty or buff is more evident. 



Distribution. — Western North America, from Dakota and Texas 

 westwards, hardly north of the United States boundary ; wintering 

 from Texas and northern California to central Mexico. 



The Mountain Plover, in contradistinction to its name, is a common 

 summer resident on the eastern plains of Colorado, though extending 

 up into the parks to about 8,000 feet. It is fairly abundant in the 

 San Luis Valley (Henshaw), where Warren also saw a female with two 

 haK-grown young on July 19th ; South Park (Tresz) and Middle Park 

 (Coues). It arrives from the south about the middle of April, though 

 noticed as early as March 26th at Fort Lyons and March 18th at Love- 

 land, and retxirns south late in October. It has been reported in 

 addition from Greeley (Dille), from Barr, where it is very common on 

 dry prairie (Hersey & Rockwell), from El Paso, Lincoln and Huerfano 

 cos. (Aiken coll.), from Fort Lyon, eggs June 9 (Thome), and from 

 Baca CO. (Warren). I have not heard of it anywhere on the western 

 slope. 



