772 



S YS TEMA TIC S YNOPSTS. — LIMICOLM. 



Fig. 520. — Black-bellied Plover, in summer, reduced. (From Lewis.) 



ing at tips and whitening at bases of inner webs, though without definite white spaces ; shafts 



white for a space. Secondaries and many coverts, like primaries, plain fuscous, without the 



^^^^.^^ ^=~^=_ ==r^-^^ - =^__ —-=--_ golden and white fretwork 



=__ ^"7 .^^^ ~ ~~ -S-- -^ of back. Bill and feet 



-^^g=-T^S -^ black. Length 10.00- 



^^~ / - - 11.00; extent 22.50; 



wing 7.00 ; tail 3.00 ; bill 

 0.90; tibifB bare 1.00; 

 tarsus 1.75; middle toe 

 and claw 1.20. (J 9 , in 

 winter, and young, much 

 alike, very diflferent from 

 breeding dress: Upper 

 parts much as before, but 

 colors not so pure and 

 intense; the spangling 

 mostly golden or some- 

 what greenish-yellow^ 

 with little white if any. 

 Front and line over eye 



not purely white, but tawny, with dusky streaks. Tail lacking transverse bars, the feathers 



being dark grayish-brown with white or yellow edging and notching. Axillars and lining of 



wings ashy-gray as in summer ; but, as in 



Squatarola, the chief difference is in the under 



parts, which have no black, being grayish- 

 white, clearest on chin, belly, and crissum, 



throat and sides of head streaked, breast and 



sides of neck and body mottled, with dark 



grayish-brown. Legs not perfectly black. 



This is the muddy-bellied state in which the 



Golden Plover is generally seen in the U. S., 



though beautiful black -bellied birds with pure 



silver and gold spangles may be found late in 



the vernal migration. Young of the first 



autumn, which make the best eating, are not 



certainly distinguishable from old birds of 



the same season and of winter ; but they are 



"greener,'' i. e., the freckles are more colored Fig. 521.— Golden Plover, in fall or winter, reduced. 



in proportion to the amount of white, and (From Nuttali, after — ?) 



have a tarnished tint, like "old gidd;" this color is also washed over the breast. Downy 

 young are yellow above, varied with black, an eye spot and the under parts white. North 

 America at large — in fact, most of Western Hemisphere ; breeds in Arctic regions; passes N. 

 and S. in spring and fall, formerly in great waves and affording fine sport at the latter season. 

 Eggs 4, similar to those of Squatarola, smaller, usually paler clay-color, sometimes whitish ; 

 markings of same tone and pattern; size 1.80-2.00 X 1-30-1.35. This is the usual "field- 

 plover" of sportsmen ; a well-known and highly esteemed game-bird, with a profusion of ver- 

 nacular names, some of them very pat, and some shared with Squatarola; "prairie-pigeon" 

 is only heard in the West, and even there is oftener applied to Bartram's Sandpiper. 

 C. d. f ul'vus. (Lat. fulvus, yellowish. Fig. 525.) Asiatic Golden Plover. Similar ; 

 more suffused with yellow on head, especially along superciliary stripe; smaller; length 



