634 THE A-MERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. 



No. 253. 

 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. 



A. O. L'. No. 272. Charadrius dominiciis Miill. 



Synonyms. — Fit:LD Plover. Bit.l-hkad. 



Description. — Adult in summer: Above dusky, blackening on tips of feathers 

 on liack and crown, lightening to fuscous on wing-coverts, tertials, sides of neck, 

 etc.; spotted shar])ly on back and crown, less distinctly on neck and upper tail- 

 coverts, with bright ochre-yellow ; primaries blackish, the basal and a concealed 

 distal portion of each quill white; tail dusky, barred irregularly with lighter gray- 

 ish brown ; entire undcrparts, except lining of wing, including sides of head, 

 glossy, brownish black ; bordered on head, neck, and breast with pure white ; lining 

 of wings smoky gray or ashy; bill and legs black. Adult in zvintcr: Usually less 

 decidedly black on back; the spotting (streaking on hind neck) finer on upper 

 [jarts ; the ochre-yellow brightest on upper tail-coverts; elsewhere more or less dis- 

 placed by paler yellow and whitish; below without black; throat and crissum dull 

 white ; elsewhere streaked and spotted with light brownish gray, a lighter shade 

 of the same vaguely diffused over the plumage, or else underparts definitely 

 brownish gray, finely spotted with white. Immature: Like adult in winter, but 

 lighter below: only the breast tinged, and that uniformly, with light fuscous; pat- 

 tern of neck all around blended. Length 9.50-1 1. 00 (241.3-270.4); av. of nine 

 specimens: wing h.f^T, ( 173.5 ) '• tail 2.56 (65) ; bill 89 (22.6) ; tarsus 1.63 (41.4). 



Recognition Marks. — Killdeer size. "Golden" speckling of upperparts dis- 

 tinctive. Somewhat smaller than [^receding species; bill decidedly smaller; not so 

 white below in fall plumage. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in WashingU.m. Xest: on the ground with a 

 scanty lining of leaves and grass. Bgys: 3 or 4, buft'y white to buft'y brown, 

 boldly spotted and blotched with brownish black. Av. size, 1.98x1.37 ( 50.^ x 



■^+''^'- . . . ^ 



General Range. — Arctic America excejjt the coast of Bering Sea, migrating 



southward thruout North and South America to Patagonia. 



Range in Washington. — Not ctjmmon migrant, chiefly confined to the \\'est 

 Coast. 



Authorities. — | CooiJcr aiid Buckley, 229. No Washington record.] 

 Brewster, I!. X. O. C. MI. Oct. 1882, p. 227. E(H). 



Specimens. — Prov. C. 



ALTH( ) tlic I'liilden Ploxer is conniKjnly rejxn-ted from \arious places in 

 the eastern interior during niigratimis, it is not at all common upon the Pacific 

 slope, nor indeed anywhere west of the Rocky Mountains. The great bulk of 

 the migrants, especiall\- in the fall, appear to pass along the Atlantic Coast, or 

 even at a considerable distance mit to sea. During the latter days of August 

 enormous numbers push boldly mil to sea from the southern shore of Nova 

 Scotia, and are not seen again until they touch the West Lidies, unless they be 

 driven back against the Atlantic Coast b\- strong east winds, in which case the 

 sportsmen of ^lassachusetts and Long Island reap a rich harvest. 



