208 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



been killed already. The last specimen taken, so far as we know, was 

 killed at Hog Island, Hancock county, Maine, Sep. 2, 1909 (O. W. Knight, 

 Auk, XXVII, 1910, 79). 



The food of all the curlews consists partly of animal matter and partly 

 of vegetable material, and the present species is known to feed freely on 

 locusts, grasshoppers, crickets, and a large variety of other insects, as well 

 as on various seeds, grains and berries. It formerly visited Labrador 

 after the breeding season, largely to feast on the crow-berry or curlew- 

 berry (Empetrum nigrum), and some other abundant berries before starting 

 on its long journey southward. 



This is another of the species which formerly reached southern Argentina 

 and even Patagonia on its southward migration. The writer saw it in 

 flocks of hundreds on the Argentine Pampas in January and February, 

 1880 and 1881. 



It formerly bred in large numbers on the Barren Grounds, within the 

 Arctic Circle, laying three or four spotted eggs in a poorly lined hollow in 

 the ground. The eggs average 2.04 by 1.43 inches. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION, 



Top of head uniformly streaked with brownish black and grayish or buffy white, without 

 any median light stripe; an indistinct light stripe from bill over eye; remainder of head 

 and neck buffy white, narrowly streaked with dusky or brownish black, the markings 

 becoming arrow-shaped or v-shaped on the lower throat and breast, the sides and flanks 

 with larger bars of the same color. Inner webs of primaries uniform brownish without 

 bars. Length 12.60 to 14.50 inches; wing 8 to 8.50; culmen 2.25 to 2.50; tarsus 1.70 to 1 80. 



Family 27. CHARADRIID^. Plover. 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



A. Large, wing over 6 inches, bill nearly or quite 1 inch. B, BB. 

 B. Three-toed, hind toe lacking. C, CC. 



C. Wing not over 6| inches; neck encircled by a broad white 



ring with a black ring below it. Killdeer. No. 116. 

 CC. Wing more than 6f inches; neck without rings. Golden 

 Plover. No. 115. 

 BB, Four-toed, hind toe short but distinct. Black-bellied Plover. 

 No. 114. 

 AA. Small, wing not over 5 inches; a complete white ring around neck, 

 with a dark collar below it. E, EE. 

 E. General color of upper parts (back, etc.) pale gray or even 



grayish white. Piping Plover. No. 118. 

 EE. General color of upper parts dark brownish gray. Ringneck. 

 No. 117. 



114. Black-bellied Plover. Squatarola squatarola (Lmn.). (270) 



Synonyms: Gray Plover, Beetle-head, Black-breast, Four-toed Plover. — Tringa 

 squatarola, Linn., 1758, T. helvetica, 17G6.— Squatarola helvetica, Cuv., 1817, and authors 

 generally. — Charadrius helveticus, Licht., Nutt., Aud. — Charadrius_apricarius, Wils. 



Likely to be confounded in any plumage with the Golden Plover which 

 it closely resembles. With specimens in hand, however, they can be 



