AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. 57 



AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. 



COMMON PLOVER. WHISTLING PLOVER. PALE-BELLY. 

 GREEN PLOVER. 



Charadrius DOMINICUS. 



Char. No hind toe. Above, spotted with black and lemon yellow; 

 forehead and line over the eyes white ; tail grayish brown with imperfect 

 bars of ashy white ; beneath, black. In winter plumage the black of the 

 lower parts is replaced by mottled gray and white, the throat and breast 

 spotted with dusky. 



Nest. At the upper edge of a sea-beach ; a mere dep^ression in the soil 

 lined with a few bits of grass. 



^SS^' 3-4 (usually 4) ; of sharply pointed pyriform shape ; dark brown- 

 ish buff, sometimes tinged with drab or grayish white; spotted and 

 blotched with various shades of brown; 2.00 X 1.40. 



The Common Plover is, according to the season of the year, 

 met with in almost every part of the world, particularly in Asia 

 and Europe, from Kamtschatka to China, as well as in the 

 South Sea Islands ; and on the present continent from Arctic 

 America, where it breeds, to the Falkland Islands ; it is also 

 seen in the interior at least as far as Missouri. It breeds in 

 Siberia and in the northern parts of Great Britain, but not in 

 France or Italy, where it is also common. At such times it 

 selects the high and secluded mountains, sheltered by the heath, 

 where, without much attempt at a nest, the female deposits 

 about four, or sometimes five, eggs of a pale-olive color, marked 

 with blackish spots. 



These Plovers arrive on the coast of the Middle and North- 

 em States in spring and early autumn. Near to Nantasket and 

 Chelsea Beach they are seen on their return from their inclem- 

 ent natal regions in the north by the close of August, and the 

 young remain in the vicinity till the middle of October, or 

 later, according to the state of the weather. They live princi- 

 pally upon land insects, or the larvae and worms they meet 

 with in the saline marshes, and appear very fond of grasshop- 

 pers. About the time of their departure they are, early in the 

 morning, seen sometimes assembled by thousands ; but they all 



