BIRDS OF 



very abundant in the remote regions which it frequents in summer, 

 and also along its migratory course from which it does not seem 

 to deviate much. On the Pacific coast it has not yet been ob- 

 served, and on the Atlantic shores it appears only in limited 

 numbers. The 'great liighway of the species is through the 

 States just east of the Rocky Mountains, where it is seen in 

 immense flocks in spring and fall. I once found myself unex- 

 pectedly in close proximity to a solitary individual on the shore 

 of the Beach near Hamilton, and secured it, but that is the only 

 record I have of its occurrence in Ontario. 



Family CHARADRIID/E Plovers. 



Genus CHARADRIUS Linn^us. 



Subgenus SQUATAROLA Cuvier. 



112 CHARADRIUS SQUATAROLA (Linn.). 270. 



Black-bellied Plover. 



Adult in breeding season (rarel)' seen in the United States) ; face and 

 entire under parts black ; upper parts variegated with black and white, or 

 ashy ; tail barred with black and white ; quills dusky with large white patches. 

 Adults at other times and young, below white more or less shaded with gray, 

 the throat and breast more or less speckled with dusky ; above blackish, 

 speckled with white or yellowish ; the rump white with dark bars, legs dull 

 bluish. Old birds changing show every grade, from a few isolated feathers 

 on the under parts, to numerous large black patches. Length, 11-12 ; wing, 

 7 or more ; tail, 3 ; bill, i-ij ; tarsus, 2 ; middle toe and claw, ij ; hind toe, 

 hardly J. 



Hab. Nearly cosmopolitan, but chiefly in the Northern Hemisphere, 

 breeding far north, and migrating south in winter ; in America to the West 

 Indies, Brazil, and New Grenada. 



Eggs 4, dark clay color, blotched or spotted with brownish black. 



Although of nearly cosmopolitan distribution, this large and 

 handsome Plover is nowhere abundant It has been found 

 breeding on the xerotic coast east of the Anderson River, where 

 its eggs were taken by Mr. IMcFarlane. 



114 



