BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 



199 



neck-ring that certainly deserves to be referred to circumcincta. It is to be 

 noted that Dr. Sharpe ' decHnes to recognize circumcincta as subspecifically 

 distinct from meloda. 



130 [280] Ochthodromus wilsonius (Ord). 

 Wilson's Plover. 



Accidental visitor from the south. 



On May 8th, 1904, I was so fortunate as to find this bird in a gunner's 

 bag at Ipswich. It had been shot early in the morning on the beach, whither it 

 had apparently wandered, borne along perhaps by other migrants. Although 

 Winter Yellow-legs were common on the marshes and a few Least Sandpipers 

 and Piping Plover had arrived, the only other birds I had found on the beach 

 that morning were three Black-bellied Plover and one Semipalmated Plover. 

 The latter bird was seen at close range and his characteristic call note heard, 

 which is very different from that of the Wilson's Plover. The note of the 

 latter is described by Coues as "half a whistle, half a chirp." The Wilson's 

 Plover was an adult male in full, somewhat worn plumage and very fat. The 

 specimen is now in my collection. 



Peabody,^ in his report on the birds of Massachusetts, states that this 

 species was abundant at Nahant in August, 1838, and this statement is copied 

 by Putnam.^ This record was believed to be on the authority of Dr. Brewer 

 who later refuted the statement. Thus in reviewing Allen's list of birds of 

 Massachusetts, Dr. Brewer says as regards the probable occurrence of this bird : 

 "Yet the occurrence of Aigialiiis wilsonia in Massachusetts is another, in the 

 writer's opinion, not to be anticipated." * 



There is only one other record besides mine for the State : a bird taken at 

 Garnet Point, Plymouth, on August 22d, 1877, by Mr. A. S. Fiske.^ 



1 R. B. Sharpe : Catalogue of Birds of the British Museum, vol. 24, p. 294, 1896. 

 " W. B. O. Peabody : Report on the Ornithology of Massachusetts, p. 360, 1839. 

 'F. W. Putnam; Proc. Esse.x Inst., vol. i, p. 224, 1856. 

 *T. M. Brewer : Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, vol. 3, p. 139, 1878. 

 'Elliott Coues: Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, vol. 7, p. 59, 1882. 



