164 BULLETIN 14 6;, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



form the most reliable field mark in all plumages. The general out- 

 line of the bird is characteristic, with its large head, short, heavy bill, 

 and erect carriage. The upper parts are light colored in all plumages, 

 especially so in spring, the upper tail coverts are nearly white and 

 there is a white band in the spread wing. In the fully black-breasted 

 plumage the black of the under parts does not extend so far back as 

 on the golden plover and the crown is much whiter. The presence 

 of a hind toe may be detected at a short distance. 



Fall. — The southward migration begins early in July and spreads 

 out entirely across the continent. Before the end of August the last 

 of the black-bellied plover have left their breeding grounds. The first 

 of the adults sometimes reach Massachusetts as early as the second 

 week in July; my earliest date is July 7; but the main flight comes 

 in August and most of the adults have left by the middle of Septem- 

 ber, though I have seen adults here as late as October 29. The young 

 birds come later; I have seen them as early as August 10, but they 

 usually do not come in any numbers until September, and the heaviest 

 flight is between September 15 and October 15; a few linger into 

 November. While here they mingle freely with knots, turnstones, 

 and red-backed sandpipers; any of the smaller sandpipers are likely 

 to be associated with them. 



Professor Rowan (1923) gives much the same dates for Alberta 

 and says that the young birds are plentiful through October and 

 "may stay right into November, even for a week or two after the 

 lakes have frozen over." M. P. Skinner tells me that he has seen them 

 in Yellowstone Park late in September Avith the thermometer down 

 to zero. Mr. Eathbun tells me that "the black -bellied plover is a 

 regular and somewhat common spring and autumn migrant along 

 the coast of Washington and about Puget Sound." D. E. Brown's 

 notes from that region give dates extending from August 26 to 

 October 2. 



Game. — It is as a game bird that the black-bellied plover or 

 " beetlehead," as it is called on Cape Cod, has achieved its greatest 

 reputation. There is no shore bird that is better known or more 

 eagerly sought ; for it is not only a large plump bird but it is a swift 

 flier, and one of the wariest, most sagacious, and most difficult of the 

 beach birds to secure. To meet with any success in shooting this 

 plover the sportsman must be familiar with its habits in the locality 

 where he is shooting, must be well concealed in a skillfully made 

 blind, and must know how to imitate its notes perfectly. The old 

 black-bellied birds are particularly wary and will not come to the 

 decoys unless the surroundings are quite natural in appearance. Mr. 

 Mackay (1892) says: 



After many unsuccessful attempts to capture them one becomes imbued with 

 the fact that the old birds are well calculated, under ordinary circumstances. 



