160 BULLETIN 14 6^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



whence tliey emerged. At that time both parents were fearless in their de- 

 fense, employing all the wing-dragging and distress maneuvers known to 

 ground-nesting birds. This was exhibited even by the male, which is rather 

 unusual. The downy young are variegated, sulphur-yellow and black above, 

 and harmonize well with the abundant yellowish moss of the tundra. They 

 conceal themselves by lying with head down and with their legs drawn under 

 their bodies and are thus very difficult to detect. 



Plumages. — In natal down the young black-bellied plover resem- 

 bles the young golden plover, except that the band around the neck 

 and the under parts are purer white. The forehead, crown, and 

 sides of the head are variegated with black, white, and bright yel- 

 lows, varying from " lemon chrome " to " baryta yellow " ; the back, 

 rump, wings, and thighs are mottled with black and the above 

 shades of yellow; the nape, a broad band around the neck and the 

 entire under parts are pure white; the cheeks below the eyes are 

 white bordered below by a black stripe extending from the bill to 

 the auriculars. 



In fresh juvenal plumage, as seen on the breeding groimds, the 

 forehead and lores are mainly white; the crown and all the upper 

 parts of the body are sepia, the feathers broadly tipped or notched 

 with yellow, varying from " light cadmium yellow " to " light 

 orange yellow," the spots being largest and briglitest on the rump ; 

 the chin is white, but the rest of the under parts are buffy gray and 

 l^ale buff, the feathers of the throat, breast, and flanks with median 

 dusky streaks and faint dusky tips; the greater wdng coverts are 

 more narrowly edged, but more conspicuously notched than in the 

 adult. Young birds are in juvenal plumage during migration, but 

 the yellows have mostly faded to creamy white or white, though 

 the rump spots are often quite yellow. A partial postjuvenal molt 

 takes place late in the fall and in winter, involving much of the body 

 plumage, but generally not the rump and back. Generally the molt 

 is finished by December, but often not until January; by this time 

 the light edgings and notches have worn away, giving the bird a very 

 dark appearance. The first winter plumage is much like the adult 

 winter, but it can be distinguished by the creamy or golden tips and 

 notches of the juvenal wing coverts, by the faded yellow spots on 

 the rump and by some old, worn scapulars and tertials. 



Young birds have an incomplete and very variable first prenuptial 

 molt, at which the sexes begin to differentiate. Young males acquire 

 more of the adult nuptial plumage than young females; sometimes 

 the breasts become almost wholly clear black ; but in the upper parts 

 there is generally only a sprinkling of new, adult, broadly white- 

 tipped feathers, most of the first winter plumage being retained, with 

 some old, worn scapulars, tertials, and tails. Young females show 

 much less black on the breast and much more winter plumage on 



