214 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



Pluvialis dominicus dominicus M tiller. Golden Plover. 



(?) "Golden Plover" Read, Oologist, XXX, 1913, 131 (I. of Pines. Sept. 18). 



"On September 17, 1912, I took two specimens which I identified at the time as- 

 Golden Plover." These were "identified from Cory's 'How to know the Shore 

 Birds,' and had the rudimentary hind toe." [I] The rudimentary hind toe being 

 characteristic of the Black-bellied Plover, and not of the Golden Plover, there is 

 ground for querying the record in question. Although the Greater Antilles are 

 presumed to lie considerably off the regular migration route of the Golden Plover, 

 Gundlach records it from Cuba without special comment, and, if it occurs there, 

 it should also occur in the Isle of Pines. 



58. Squatarola squatarola (Linnaeus). Black-bellied Plover. 

 (?) "Black-bellied Plover" Read, Oologist, XXX, 1913, 127 (Santa Barbara). 



Seven specimens: Los Indies, Caleta Grande, and Rincon Lagoon. 



After examining an unusually fine series of breeding and winter 

 adults of this species from various parts of its North American range, 

 together with a few European specimens, I find such a variation in 

 size in both that I do not feel justified in recognizing the birds from the 

 respective continents as subspecifically distinct (at least on the ground 

 of size alone), as proposed by Messrs. Thayer and Bangs {Proceedings 

 New England Zoological Club, V, 1914, 23). Nor does the supposed 

 form " hypomelus " appear to rest on a much more satisfactory basis. 



Two adults shot October 14 have completed the postnuptial moult, 

 with the exception of one and two outer primaries respectively. Two 

 young birdS; dated respectively November 19 and 26, however, are 

 still in Juvenal dress, so badly worn that the buffy spotting of the 

 upper parts is mostly scalloped out, and what remains faded to white; 

 but still they show no signs of the onset of the postjuvenal moult. 

 Three specimens shot February 21 and 22, and which look like winter 

 adults, have the body-plumage much worn, while the wings, and also 

 the tail, except in one individual, are quite fresh. The one exception 

 referred to is a bird which is acquiring new feathers of the winter 

 plumage on the back, and may be a young bird undergoing a late 

 postjuvenal moult. 



The Black-bellied Plover is a winter resident in the Isle of Pines, 

 occurring usually wherever there are rocky or gravelly beaches ex- 

 posed along the coast. Two or three individuals are ordinarily found 

 together. At only one locality, Rincon Lagoon, near Bibijagua, 

 February 21 and 22, was it ever observed in flocks of any size. October 

 14 was the earliest date recorded for it by Mr. Link, while a few in- 

 dividuals were observed at Siguanea as late as May 2. These latter 



