604 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLJE. 



bluish; toes blackish. U. S., chiefly west of the R. Mts. ; Utah; Cala. coast, breeding and 

 wintering; also, coast of Texas. A specimen (^, Corpus Christi, Texas, Jime 24, Sennett) 

 though in midsummer plumage, has no fulvous on head ; no trace of loral mark ; the coronal 

 bar, post-ocular stripe, and lateral pectoral blotch dark brown, not black. Eggs 3 ; tone and 

 style of coloration about as in wilsonius; size as in melodus, but markings more numerous and 

 scratchy ; 1.20X0.90. (Probably specifically distinct from JE. cantianus.) 



219. PODASO'CYS. (The Homeric epithet of Achilles, -nobas wkvs, podas okus, swift as to his 

 feet.) Mountain Plover. In general, characters of ^gialites ; but no black belt or 

 patches on neck or breast; a coronal and loral black bar. Size large. Tail short, half the 

 wing, square. Legs very long ; tibiae nude for a distance f the length of tarsus. Latter 

 more than half as long again as middle toe and claw. Toes very short, the lateral of unequal 

 lengths. Tarsus and tibia entirely reticulate. Sexes alike. One species. 



592. P. monta'nus. (Lat. montanus, of mountains. Badly named: it is a prairie bird.) 

 Prairie Plover. "Mountain" Plover. (J 9 , in summer: Upper parts uniform 

 grayish -brown; in most breeding individuals the shade is pure, but in many cases the feathers 

 are skirted with tawny or ochrey. Under parts entirely white (no black belt or patches) ; but 

 the breast often shaded across with diffuse fulvous or gray. A sharp black loral line from bill 

 to eye, cutting off the white forehead and superciliary line from the white of other parts. A 

 coronal black bar across the sinciput, varying in width from a mere Hue to a band nearly half 

 the length of crown in width. Quills blackish, the shaft of the first white, of the others white 

 for a space ; some of the inner primaries with white spaces toward the bases of the outer webs, 

 and the secondaries a little pale on their inner webs. Tertiaries and greater coverts like back, 

 the latter white-tipped. Tail-feathers like back, blackening toward ends, the outermost pale 

 throughout ; all tipped Avith whitish. Bill black, slender ; legs pale ; the toes darker. Length 

 9.50; extent 18.00; wing 5.50-6.00; tail 2.50-3.00; bill 0.90-1.00; tibiae bare over 0.50; 

 tarsus 1.67; middle toe and claw 0.90-1.00. The full breeding dress has not before been fairly 

 described. ,^ 9 > i^i winter : No black coronal or loral stripe ; otherwise, generally as in 

 summer; but the general plumage more rusty, with more decided wash of color on the breast. 

 Young : As last said ; whole upper parts rusty from extensive edgings of aU the feathers ; sides 

 of head and neck similarly sufi"used with tawny. The ground-color of the upper parts is also 

 darker than that of the adults. Chick in down : Forehead, sides of head and under parts 

 white, with sulphury-yellow tinge. Crown, back and tibiae sulphury or tawny-yeUow, closely 

 and evenly mottled with black. Unmarked line over eye ; black ear-spot. Bill light at 

 extreme base below, and at the point. Livid patch of naked skin oTi neck. An interesting, 

 isolated species, plentifully and generally distributed in western U. S., Plains to the Pacific; 

 N. to 49° at least. I have shot it in Kansas, Colorado, "Wyoming, New Mexico (June), 

 Arizona, Montana (49°, June), California coast (November), etc. It is not Eudromias, 

 and sufficiently unlike ^gialites. It inhabits the most sterile prairie as well as better watered 

 regions, quite independently of water, and is not in the least aquatic ; even on the Cala. coast 

 it haunts the plain, never the marsh, mud-flat, or beach. Feeds chiefly upon insects, especially 

 grasshoppers, and is generally seen in loose straggling companies of small extent. Nest any- 

 where on the bare prairie; eggs 3-4; 1.40 to 1.50 long, by 1.10 broad, less pointed than 

 plovers' eggs usually are, olive-drab with a brown shade, profusely dotted all over, but espe- 

 cially at the larger end, with blackish, dark brown and neutral tint; the markings all mere dots 

 and points, the largest scarcely exceeding a pin's head. June, July. 



220. VANEL'LUS. (Lat. vanellus or vannelhis, diminutive of vannus, a fan.) Lapwings. Bill 

 slender, shorter than head, perfectly pluvialine. Legs long ; tibia much denuded below ; tarsus 

 greatly longer than middle toe and claw. A web between bases of middle and outer toes ; inner 

 toe cleft to the base. A small hind toe. Wings very long, folding to .end of the long square 

 tail, but rounded, 2d 5th primaries subequal and longest, 1st about equal to 7th; primaries 



