BIEBS OF KANSAS. 215 



^gialitis meloda circumcincta Ridgw. 



BELTED PIPING PLOVER. 



In my first catalogue I entered this bird in the list to be 

 looked for in the State. I have met with them in Texas, and 

 they are known to breed north of ns, and it is strange they have 

 not been found, as this is about the center of their natural range. 

 I therefore think it safe to add them to our list as migratory 

 birds. 



B. . E. .530. C. 588. G. , — . U. 277a. 



Habitat. The Mississippi valle_y, and north to Lake Winni- 

 peg (occasionally east to the Atlantic coast); breeding from 

 northern Illinois and Nebraska northward; wintering on the 

 Gulf coast and southward. 



Sp. Char. '■'Adult male: Forehead, lores, niiolial collar and lower parts 

 white. Ill Slimmer a band across fore part of crown, and one around the lower 

 neck (forming a continuous pectoral band), black or dusky. In winter these 

 markings replaced by light brownish gray; head above and upper parts of body 

 light brownish cinereous; rump and upper tail coverts lighter, and often nearly 

 white; quills dark brown, with a large portion of tlieir 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 white; middle feathers with a wide sub- 

 terminal band of brownish black, and tipped with white; bill orange at base, 

 tipped with black ( in winter almost wholly 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 neck ashy brown." 



I have no measurements of this bird. Mr. Ridgway, in ' 'Amer- 

 ican Naturalist," Yol. 8, p. 109, gives the following dimensions 

 of an adult male: "Wing, 4.60; tail, 2.30; culmen, .50; tarsus, 

 .85; middle toe, .55. Type, No. 9035, male ad., Nat. Mus., 

 Loup Fork of the Platte, July 8; Dr. F. V. Hayden. Length, G^; 

 extent, 14 J." 



As their name indicates, these birds have a soft, low, piping 

 note, which they utter not only upon the wing but occasionally 

 as they run about upon the ground, and, during the early breed- 

 ing season, a peculiar, loud, prolonged, musical call, that readily 

 attracts attention. I say in the breeding season, because, when 

 I met with them on the Gulf coast, I did not hear it until the 

 early spring. In other respects, their habits are not noticeably 

 different from the Semipalmated. 



Their nests are without lining, a mere depression in the sand. 



