FAMILY CHARADRIIDAE 39I 



CHARADRIUS WILSONIA Ord: Wilson's Plover; Chorlito Piquigordo 



A small plover, with a single breast band, the bill much larger and 

 heavier than in others with similar marking. 



Description. — Length, 160 to 180 mm. Breeding dress, male, 

 anterior part of crown, lores, and a band across upper breast black ; 

 posterior area of crown, hindneck, back, wing coverts, and tertials 

 grayish brown ; side of head and nape in some washed with cinnamon ; 

 greater wing coverts tipped narrowly with white; primaries dull 

 black; central tail feathers blackish, outer pairs light gray tipped 

 with white; forehead and underparts, except for breast band, pure 

 white. 



Female, similar but dark bands on fore crown, lores, and breast 

 grayish brown, with little or no black. 



Winter plumage, like the female in breeding dress, but more 

 grayish brown. 



Iris dark brown; bill black; tarsus and toes grayish flesh color; 

 claws black. 



These plovers are found in small numbers on sand beaches, usually 

 remote from areas frequented by fishermen and bathers. They are 

 quieter and more retiring than the semipalmated plovers encountered 

 in the same localities, as when approached usually they run back into 

 the loose sand above high tide mark. There, with the breast turned 

 away, the dull gray back forms an effective camouflage so that they 

 are hidden. Often, too, they crouch so that they become completely 

 inconspicuous. 



There is much to learn regarding Wilson's plover in Panama as 

 there are few published records, and in my own studies I have en- 

 countered them infrequently. The specimens that I have collected 

 indicate that two geographic races are present. 



CHARADRIUS WILSONIA WILSONIA Ord 



Clmradrius wilsonia Ord, in Wilson, Amer. Orn., Ord reprint, vol. 9, 1814, p. 

 77, pi. 73, fig. 5. (Cape May, New Jersey.) 



Characters. — Lighter, grayer on the dorsal surface; middle toe 

 longer, 18 to 20 mm. 



Measurements (from Ridgway, I.e., p. 109). — Males, wing 106- 

 121 (116.4), tail 44-50 (47.5), culmen 19.5-21.5 (20.7), tarsus 

 27.5-30.5 (29), middle toe without claw 18-20 (19.2) mm. 



Females, wing 112-121 (117.6), tail 42-50 (46.9), culmen 19-22 

 (20.8), tarsus 27-31 (28.6), middle toe without claw 18-20 (18.6) 

 mm. 



